Former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro‘s role in shaping the history of the league can never be denied by anyone. Vaccaro had signed Michael Jordan to the historic Air Jordan shoe deal, which elevated Jordan’s status as the most marketable player in the league back in the day. However, before that, Vaccaro also ran a basketball league where he fielded the best high school players to recognize potential talents.
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Kobe Bryant‘s father, Joe Bryant, emerged as an MVP in Sonny Vaccaro’s Dapper Dan High School All-Star tournament, held in Pittsburgh in 1972. Jellybean Bryant was extremely grateful to Vaccaro for elevating his basketball potential nationally, which saw him have a flourishing career in the NBA and later a stint abroad in Italy.
When Joe Bryant returned to the United States, he was re-introduced to Vaccaro after 22 years by AAU coach Gary Charles. Joe did not hesitate to thank Vaccaro for the opportunity in the Dapper Dan tournament. At the time, Joe Bryant had been hired as an assistant coach at La Salle University in Philly.
Bryant had an emerging prospect in his son, Kobe Bryant, who was a teenager in 1994. Bryant believed that given his history with Sonny Vaccaro, he could get his son into Adidas’s nationwide basketball camp, the ABCD All-America Camp, which was now run by Vaccaro. The former Nike executive was now an executive for Adidas and was in charge of finding the ‘next Michael Jordan’ for the German brand.
Owing to the long history between himself and the legendary executive, Joe Bryant asked Vaccaro to give his son Kobe a chance in the ABCD camp as a favor. Requesting Vaccaro to clear a spot for his son, Joe Bryant said, “Sonny, I have this son-Kobe. And he’s really good. I want to see if you can give him an ABCD spot. My son is amazing, he’ll dominate your camp, he just needs a shot.”
Vaccaro was now perplexed about letting a prospect he had never heard of play in his camp. However, his history with Joe Bryant meant that he also owed the former NBA player a favor in this regard. Years later, Jeff Pearlman noted in his book Three Ring Circus how Vaccaro eventually allowed Kobe Bryant to showcase his talents in the ABCD Camp. Recalling this incident, Vaccaro said, as per Pearlman’s book:
“I’d never heard of Kobe Bryant. No one knew who he was, what he could do. But I felt like Joe and I had a history, and maybe he was telling the truth. So I told him, ‘Okay, I’ll let him in.'”
Sonny Vaccaro had never realized that Kobe Bryant would go on to become the greatest prospect to come out of the ABCD camp. Vaccaro would soon be mesmerized by Kobe’s heroics and offer him a lucrative deal for Adidas before entering the NBA. Vaccaro would find Adidas their Michael Jordan like he did with Nike.
Kobe Bryant went straight from high school to the NBA’s pinnacle
Kobe Bryant became a prospect worth national attention after earning the MVP award at the 1995 Adidas ABCD camp. While still in high school, Bryant started receiving offers from teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers for work outs.
In his senior year of high school, Kobe led his school to their first state championship in 53 years. Bryant ended his high school career with an all-time leading 2,833 points, surpassing both Wilt Chamberlain and Lionel Simmons.
Though Kobe had adequate basketball skills and an SAT score of 1080 to ensure his admission to any college of his choice, he still did not officially visit any campuses. Instead, in a much-publicized press conference, Bryant declared for the NBA draft in 1996 as a 17-year-old. Kobe was picked 13th overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets and was soon traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he spent all 20 seasons of his career.
