Tom Brady poured out his grief over Kobe Bryant’s death in an emotional essay posted Tuesday. The football great explored why the tragedy has kept him up crying at night while lauding the Lakers legend’s ability to inspire others off the court.
Bryant was killed with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a January helicopter crash.
“Why has this touched me in the way that it did? Why has it kept me up at night, and brought me so many tears?” Brady wrote in a Twitter entry.
The New England Patriots quarterback, whose unsurpassed 20-year reign with the team could end with his free agency in March, focused on Bryant’s life after basketball.
“In his second chapter, you saw even more,” Brady wrote. “You saw his excitement for life, and for achieving in areas only he thought possible. He became more of an entrepreneur, media mogul, father, husband and mentor among other roles. And he didn’t stop with himself. Kobe didn’t care whether you were a man or woman, boy or girl, black or white, rich or poor, ordinary or extraordinary, he wanted to help you become the best you could be. His mere presence had an effect on everybody he was around. He had the energy to recognize in others what they could not recognize in themselves. I think that’s why I will miss him most.”
Bryant had a “superhero”-like power, through example, to make others believe that “if you truly believed in something you could achieve it,” Brady noted.
The six-time Super Bowl champion invited readers to channel their sorrow for Bryant into embracing challenges.
“Decide to make the change in yourself,” Brady said. “If there is anything I have learned and been inspired by through this tragic event, it is this, SEIZE THE DAY. That’s what Kobe always did, and that’s what he wanted for us.”