A video of a teary ESPN sportscaster retelling her one and only meeting with the late basketball great, Kobe Bryant, has gone viral.
In the video, sportscaster Elle Duncan, retold how she met Bryant as a heavily pregnant woman two years ago.
What was supposed to be a brief selfie moment with a basketball legend, ended up being a 30 minute conversation after Duncan revealed she would be having a girl child.
“Girls are the best”, Bryant confessed to Duncan.
“Just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing,” he continued.
It was clear to Duncan just how much Bryant loved each of his girls, as he conceded that he did not feel a need to have a son as he was a ‘girl dad’.
“I would have five more girls if I could, I’m a girl dad,” said Bryant.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/T_Dwyer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@T_Dwyerfor sending me this.. 🙏🏽 #girldad pic.twitter.com/o0sNLZ0yyC
— Elle Duncan (@elleduncanESPN)
This is how the tearful broadcaster retold the story, in her own words.
“It’s likely that you are hearing many personal anecdotes about Kobe Bryant, so here’s mine. I met Kobe one time, backstage at an event for ESPN in New York.
“I saw him and I said oh my gosh, that’s Kobe, I’ve got to get that picture for the (Insta)gram. I didn’t get it for a few minutes because as I approached him he immediately commented about my rather large 8 month pregnant belly.
“‘How are you, how close are you, what are you having?’ A girl I said, and he high-fived me, ‘girls are the best’.
“I asked him for advice on raising girls, since he famously had three at the time and he said ‘just be grateful that you’ve been given that gift because girls are amazing’.
“His third daughter Bianca was about one and a half years at the time, so I asked him if he wanted more children, and he said that his wife Vanessa, really wanted to try again, for a boy, but she was jokingly concerned it would be another girl. So I asked him ‘like four girls, are you joking, what would you think, how would you feel?’
“Without hesitation he said ‘I would have five more girls if I could, I’m a girl dad’. “When it came to sport he said his oldest daughter was an accomplished volleyball player, and the youngest was a toddler, so TBD (to be determined).
“But that middle one (Gigiana), she’s a monster, she’s a beast, she’s better than I was at her age, she’s got it. That middle one of course was Gigi (who died in the crash with Bryant and seven others).
“When I reflect on that half an hour I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I supposed the only source of comfort for me, is knowing he died doing what he loved the most, being a dad, being a girl dad,” she said tearfully.
Out of all the Kobe stories in the last day, this one hit differently.
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 28, 2020
Elle Duncan on Kobe “being a dad. A girl dad.” pic.twitter.com/tggiEmzIKc
And in a separate video, Bryant again displayed his love for his four girls and explained that he did not need a son to carry on his legacy.
"The thing that's most important to understand is that athletes are athletes, until we start treating them as such, we are not going to advance. The most important thing to understand is that women can do as much as men, I try to share that message with my children.
"My favourite story about my daughters is that when we go out to Starbucks or places like that, a fan will come up to me and say 'Kobe you've got to have a boy, someone that's going to carry on your mentality. My daughters will look at them and say 'Woah woah woah, I got this, you ain't never seen me play before, you don't need no boy for that'," said Bryant, who said he thought that was an important message to take in for people.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/ProjectPlay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ProjectPlaySummit, #girldad Kobe Bryant shared with Olympic champion @devarona64 how often fans told him he needed a boy to carry on his legacy. Gianna’s response: “You’ve never seen me play before. You don’t need no boy for that.” pic.twitter.com/N1oA9vSA2M
— Aspen Inst Sports (@AspenInstSports)
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the video going viral, many ‘girl dads’ are now taking to social media to celebrate their daughters, as Kobe Bryant would.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/iy4kefgfoZ
— Sipho Vusi (@SiphoVusi10)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldadblessed to have my little girl! pic.twitter.com/eC0YSeROz7
— Alain Kivuvu (@alain_kivuvu)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/cJp1zoMhqh
— Juice 💦 (@Rabo_Pule)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/11A3Hsj7qj
— Francois Pienaar (@fhpienaar)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/IRqIOZLmxU
— Dwight Hlungwana (@iDwito)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/ddSrcN3ohc
— Alex Ferrer (@Fez_SA)
Im a girl dad... it’s the best!
— Tobi Skovron (@TobiSkovron) January 28, 2020
My girls love the Lakers
My girls were born in LA
My girls loved Kobe because daddy loved Kobe pic.twitter.com/a8Y2r3FzNg
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad😍❤️ pic.twitter.com/kiSqZPP6DI
— Wally Reggett (@wallyreggett)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad pic.twitter.com/0MKP0ertgT
— Mike Norvell (@Coach_Norvell)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/girldad?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#girldad❤️ pic.twitter.com/IwPAlD9jCL
— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88)
NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets
Shadows are cast on a memorial wall as fans gather at LA Live, near Staples Center where the Los Angeles Lakers play, to memorialize Kobe Bryant Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Los Angeles following a helicopter crash that killed the former NBA basketball player, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Flowers and photos of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna "Gigi" are placed near the Staples Center to pay tribute after a helicopter crash killed the retired basketball star and his daughter, in Los Angeles
Memorabilia and candles sit in Microsoft Square near the Staples Center to pay respects to Kobe Bryant after a helicopter crash killed the retired basketball star
