Friends remember Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant for his warm personality and otherworldly talent

Friends and former teammates of Joe “Jellybean” Bryant exchanged emotional phone calls and text messages this week when news of Bryant’s death on Monday spread across social media.

The current age of misinformation, though, requires due diligence.

So, after several texts confirmed the news, Maurice “Mo” Howard — a fellow Philadelphia basketball legend who shared several connections with Bryant, who was the father of late NBA star Kobe Bryant — sat in stunned silence. Howard said he had been aware of Bryant’s recent stroke but expected him to recover.

“I knew he had been sick, but I never expected him not to [get better],” Howard said. “I just sat there with a blank stare on my face.”

» READ MORE: Joe and Kobe Bryant were once inseparable. Their deaths bring their bittersweet story to a sad end.

John “Flip” Groce, one of Bryant’s high school teammates at Bartram, also made several calls and texts seeking verification.

“It was sad, man,” Groce said. “I called two guys who were on the squad with us. Man, they couldn’t even talk. They just started breaking down.”

Bryant, Howard, and Groce, all 69, would have turned 70 around the same time. Groce and Bryant’s birthday’s were born just four days apart in October; Howard turns 70 in August.

“It was a good friendship,” Groce said. “Joe was just a likable guy. He had friendships with several people who have called and texted.”

Before Howard starred at St. Joseph’s Prep and scored nearly 1,200 points at the University of Maryland, he met Bryant at a summer basketball league in Narberth when they were about 14.

Years later, Howard was the best player in the Catholic League while Bryant paced the Public League. They both became All-Americans.

There was no rivalry, though, Howard explained, because their teams never faced off.

They did, however, win a championship in the Sonny Hill League with help from future NBA player Maurice Lucas.

Still, Howard and Bryant also bonded beyond basketball.

“We just became good friends,” Howard said. “Our families became friends. I had a lot of fun with this cat, man. He was a lot of fun. He was an amazing dancer.”

The party du jour back then often took place in bustling basements that were stingy with ceiling space. Even though Bryant was 6-foot-9, Howard explained,not even close quarters could cramp his style.

“Joe would just stoop down a little bit,” Howard said with a laugh. “He was really smooth with it.”

Both even raised hoopers.

Howard’s son Ashley, now an assistant coach at Villanova, starred at Monsignor Bonner before heading to Drexel, where a heart condition forced him to the sidelines. He was an assistant at both Drexel and La Salle and also head coach at La Salle.

Howard’s youngest son, Ky, scored more than a 1,000 points at NJIT, played overseas and in the NBA’s G-League, and has also become a coach.

More than four years have passed since Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Southern California in 2020.

“People know Joe and Kobe because they are celebrities,” Howard said, “but when Kobe died, it was, ‘My friend’s son died.’

“The natural order insists that the old die before the young,” he added. “When Kobe left, that was devastating because my friend’s only son had died. And now with [Joe Bryant] dying, it puts the focus on — not just my mortality — but the mortality of my peers.”

Groce also knows loss.

His cousin, Hakeem Anderson, with whom he became close later in life died unexpectedly on Thursday, just days after Groce learned of Bryant’s death.

Groce went to Shaw Junior High with Bryant, who he said was already 6-foot at the time. Bryant, who wasn’t dubbed “Jellybean” until college, Groce said, sprouted to 6-5 by the time they went to Bartram, where he was often known as “JB.”

» READ MORE: Shaya Bryant, Joe’s daughter and Kobe’s sister, shares her thoughts on her family’s tragedy

Bryant had added a few more inches by the time Bartram beat Germantown in the 1972 Public League championship game. Bryant led all scorers with 30 points, but it was Groce, a 5-6 guard, who sparked a fourth-quarter run with a steal and layup in traffic.

“We had a lot of fun playing,” Groce said. “It was really fun for me because I always thought I was a little bit better than most in my neighborhood, but I wasn’t the caliber of JB and Mo at all. They were national athletes. When they came out, everybody wanted to see them.”

Bryant eventually starred at La Salle, averaging more than 20 points and 11 rebounds in two seasons with the Explorers. When he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1975 and then sold to the Sixers less than four months later, Groce couldn’t believe that Bryant was coming home.

“We were elated,” Groce said. “And to come here and play? We knew he could play. We saw him in college. The whole town was proud. He represented well.”

For his career, Bryant averaged about eight points and four rebounds across eight NBA seasons, four with the Sixers, though he had greater individual success in Europe, especially while playing in Italy.

It seems the NBA might not have been ready for Bryant’s skillset.

“Today,” said one-time Sixers teammate Fred Carter, “Joe would’ve been a heck of a player. He was very talented. His game was ahead of its time. He was a 6-9 shooter who could bring the ball down the floor, but his game was today’s game, not yesterday’s game.”

Carter, a guard, averaged 20 or more points for three straight seasons in Philly before Bryant arrived in ‘75. Carter averaged 18.9 points in one season with Bryant before being traded 14 games into the next season.

Howard said he last spoke to Bryant about seven months ago. They had stayed in touch throughout the years. Howard watched Kobe grow up and even helped with his development.

Groce also stayed friends with Bryant, though there were times they lost contact.

“But that was the beauty of it,” Groce said. “Whenever we did see or talk to each other, it was always a warm, friendly time.”

» READ MORE: Joe Bryant’s death, like Kobe’s, brought heartbreak to their friend and confidant Sonny Vaccaro

Both Howard and Groce expressed dismay at “conjecture” regarding Bryant’s relationship with Kobe,which has resurfaced on social media since his death.

Over time, the relationship between father and son became strained after Kobe joined the Los Angeles Lakers, according to various reports over the years.

“People have to be mindful that there are real people involved here,” Howard said. “There’s a mother, a grandmother, and young kids who are nieces and nephews, sons and daughters. All who are having a hard time processing the fact that in such a short period of time they’ve lost these people. I just wish people would have a little more humanity, a little more compassion.”