Tonight at the basketball game, the student section will be wearing purple and gold in memory of the professional basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter who passed away this week in a helicopter crash. The colors represent his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I think Kobe is to high school players today as Michael Jordan was to players in the late 80s and 90s,” boys basketball coach Chris Grotemat said. “He was kind of that transcendent talent and the greatest player of this generation that they grew up watching.  He’s their Jordan.”

The idea for the theme came from senior Ethan Thorton.  Grotemat appointed him to help lead the student section for the basketball games this year.

“As I was coming up with a theme for tonight’s game, we thought we should do something to honor Kobe,” Thorton said. “He changed the way that a lot of people view basketball.”

Bryant helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships and he was the MVP in 2008.  Bryant, his daughter, and seven others were flying to a basketball tournament for the Mamba Sports Academy when the accident occurred.

“Him and his daughter dying really shows how much you need to love your family,” sophomore Mack Ross said. “He really showed through his life what determination really looks like and doing all someone can to be the best they can be.”