Philadelphia basketball lost two local legends this week, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant and Pat Williams.
Bryant, who died Monday at 69, was a standout player at LaSalle University and part of a star-studded 76ers lineup in the late 1970s. He was also dad to NBA great Kobe Bryant.
The elder Bryant was in many ways the blueprint for the versatile forwards who currently play in the NBA, standing 6-foot-9, with a smaller player’s shooting, playmaking and athletic skills.
Williams, the architect of the Sixers’ 1982-83 championship team, died Wednesday in Orlando at age 84. He became the team’s general manager in 1974. He had been the Sixers’ business manager in 1968, followed by two other GM jobs in the NBA.
During his time in Philly he traded for NBA all-time greats Julius Erving and Moses Malone and drafted the killer backcourt of Mo Cheeks and Andrew Toney.
Bryant and Williams were tied together professionally. As Sixers GM, Williams acquired Bryant from the Golden State Warriors in 1975.
The “king of the lottery”
Williams left the 76ers in 1986 and helped to launch the NBA franchise in Orlando, Florida. Under his leadership the Magic drafted Shaquille O’Neal with the No. 1 pick in the 1992 draft and and a year later traded another top overall pick for Penny Hardaway and three first-round picks.
He served as GM until 1996, and stayed with the team in other roles until retiring officially in 2019.
Williams was born in Philadelphia, grew up in Wilmington, Del., and played baseball at Wake Forest University. He wrote more than 100 books, ran 58 marathons, and is honored in the Delaware, Wake Forest and Basketball halls of fame.
Known as the “king of the lottery” for his luck in securing the top spot in the NBA draft three times, he also had an irrepressible sense of humor.
“Most teams have a trophy case full of trophies,” he once told The Associated Press. “We have a case filled with pingpong balls.”
Williams is survived by his wife Ruth and 19 children, 14 of whom they adopted from foreign countries.
“There is no Orlando Magic without Pat Williams,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “He was held in such high regard in the basketball community and was a friend to me and so many generations of league executives. Pat was never at a loss for a kind and supportive word and always brought great enthusiasm, energy and optimism to everything he did throughout his more than 50 years in the NBA.”
Williams received the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
Joe Bryant remembered
While Bryant played 8 years in the NBA, several more in various European leagues, and coached professionally all over the world, he is best known as the father of the late NBA great Kobe “Bean” Bryant.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Joe Bryant began his storied career at John Bartram High School. He was a standout All-City player and Public League Player of the Year before heading to La Salle University.
Over two seasons, Bryant averaged 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Explorers and led the 1975 team that won the East Coast Conference championship, earning the Explorers an NCAA Tournament berth. La Salle went 22-7 that season, winning the Sugar Bowl Classic Championship (Bryant was the tournament MVP), and were ranked as high as 7th in the nation during its historic run. Bryant eventually was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.
He was chosen by the Golden State Warriors, who sent his draft rights to the 76ers. From 1975 to 1979, Bryant was a reserve forward on the team that included Erving, George McGinnis, World B. Free, Bobby Jones, Doug Collins and Daryl Dawkins.
He was a part of the team that lost in the 1977 NBA Finals to the Portland Trail Blazers, and later played for the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Clippers and the Houston Rockets.
He continued his professional career in France and Italy, at a time when it was rare for former NBA players to play overseas, and returned to U.S. in 1992 to coach at the Akiba Hebrew Academy (now called Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy) in Bryn Mawr. He subsequently coached for the Explorers and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Bryant’s relationship with his son eventually became strained and then ruptured. It was reported that they were in the process of reconciliation just before Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
