Kobe Bryant, John Heinz Helicopter Crashes Share Lower Merion Tie
A second helicopter crash bookends Bryant’s life story
Kobe Bryant started his road to global fame in 1992, soon after a helicopter/plane crash in his home town shocked America.
Bryant started his basketball career at Lower Merion Twp. High School in 1992, soon after the 1991 plane/helicopter crash at nearby Lower Merion Twp. Elementary School, just two miles away.
1991 and 2020 helicopter crashes bookends?
The tragic news of Kobe Bryant’s death on Sunday in a helicopter crash immediately reminded me of covering the 1991 helicopter and plane helicopter crash that killed U.S. Sen. John Heinz and literally rewrote history.
In 1991, Bryant had just moved from Italy as a newly arrived school kid in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, the year two Lower Merion Elementary school kids were playing on the playground when a helicopter and a plane carrying Heinz crashed in their playground.
Both the 1991 and 2020 helicopter crashes involved larger than life men and innocent school children. Both shocked the nation. Both are tied to the Lower Merion Twp. School District outside Philadelphia.
“Lower Merion and everything…
