Eyes that see the good in things: Feb. 3, 2020

 Many hearts are hurting this week after hearing about the deaths of the nine people killed in the helicopter crash that included basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. My heart hurts for the Bryant family, who lost two of their family members at the same time. It’s a pain that is hard to imagine but the story became so much more heartbreaking as I read the stories about all nine of the people who were killed while on their way to a youth basketball tournament.

They included three young basketball players and their parents who were travelling to cheer them on. A coach whom Bryant called the “Mother of Defense.” A basketball legend and a pilot with years of experience.

John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli

John and Keri Altobelli were travelling to cheer on their daughter, Alyssa and the rest of the basketball team, the Mambas. They accepted Bryant’s offer to fly with him to avoid an 80-mile drive in traffic. John Altobelli was preparing for his 28th season as the head coach of the Orange Coast College Pirates, a junior college baseball team in Costa Mesa, Calif. His wife, Keri, had just taken over a family business. Family members say that Alyssa Altobelli was making her own way, as a basketball player in a family of baseball fans.

The Altobelli’s are survived by their other children, their son, J.J. Altobelli, a former college baseball player who is now a scout for the Boston Red Sox and their daughter Lexi, who is in high school.

Sarah and Payton Chester

Sarah and Payton Chester, a mother and daughter who are remembered as being full of mischief and laughter also died in the crash. Payton, 13, had played on Bryant’s team for several years and had planned to develop her game in high school and college, her uncle Andy George told the “San Gabriel Valley Tribune.” “She had the sweetest soul, the kindest, most gentle person you would ever meet,” he said. Sarah Chester also had two 16-year-old sons.

“While the world mourns the loss of a dynamic athlete and humanitarian, I mourn the loss of two people just as important,” said Todd Schmidt, a former principal of the elementary school that Payton had attended. “Their impact was just as meaningful, their loss will be just as keenly felt, and our hearts are just as broken.”

Christina Mauser

Christina Mauser, the defensive specialist for the Mambas, had flown in the helicopter with the Bryants many times before this one when travelling to games, according to her husband, Matthew Mauser.

Ms. Mauser had worked at Harbor Day School, where Gianna Bryant was a student, for about 11 years as a physical education teacher and basketball coach when Bryant offered her a job as an assistant coach for the Mambas. Bryant nicknamed her the “Mother of Defense” because she was so good at teaching the zone strategy to the eighth-grade players.

“She just was really good with the girls,” Matthew Mauser said. “She was warm but also gritty.” He said he has been grieving with the couple’s two daughters, who are 3 and 11, and their son, who is 9. “They’re doing as well as can be expected, but they’re hurting. They miss their mom.”

Ara Zobayan

A sightseeing flight over the Grand Canyon was all it took to get Ara Zobayan hooked on flying. He signed up more than 20 years ago as a student at Group 3 Aviation, a helicopter pilot school in Van Nuys, Calif., eager to learn to fly, the school said in a statement on Monday. He had been flying and teaching others as a certified flight instructor ever since.

Kobe and Gianna Bryant

As a basketball legend who was drafted into the NBA at age 17, Kobe Bryant went on to spend 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant gave himself the nickname “Black Mamba,” and when his daughter’s youth basketball career started to take off, he affectionately started calling her “Mambacita.”

Bryant retired in 2016 with five championship rings and had recently been spending much of his time coaching his daughter and other young players. He was killed alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna in Sunday’s crash and is survived by his wife Vanessa and their daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka 3, and Capri, who was born in June 2019.

According to an article in “People,” Bryant previously shared that he began using helicopters while he still played for the Los Angeles Lakers as a way to spend more time with his family and less time stuck in traffic.

“I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play. I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but not compromise family time,” he told Alex Rodriguez in 2018. “So that’s when I looked into helicopters, to be able to get down and back in 15 minutes.”

“Being a father is my greatest accomplishment, I’ve learned so much, but perhaps the most profound thing has been the fierce, unconditional love you have for your children when you become a parent,” Bryant shared in an interview with Maria Shriver. “I’m blessed to have had that experience four times now and there’s nothing more powerful in this world.”

Derek Jeter noted in an emotional tribute written for the “Players Tribune” that Bryant always preferred to talk about his family over his career.

“All I ever needed to know about Kobe Bryant was this: that throughout our friendship, the most meaningful conversations we had— they were always about family,” the retired baseball star wrote.

“Here was this guy who was beyond gifted as an athlete, who was obsessed with being a champion, who was known as an absolute assassin with a ball in his hands,” he continued. “And in the moments I got to spend with him? He didn’t really talk about any of that. He cared much more about being a husband to Vanessa and a dad to his girls. He loved his family — he was his family. That’s what was important. And that’s the Kobe I’ll remember.”

Stop in to share your stories with us, give us a call at 947-2417 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Or send a letter to Eyes That See the Good in Things, c/o Allison Lindgren, The Transcript 6 8th St N., New Rockford, ND 58356.