LA bids Kobe emotional final farewell

Family, friends and fans fondly remember legend Bryant－the person and the player－at public memorial service

LOS ANGELES－Kobe Bryant's wife remembered him as a devoted father and husband who arrived early for school pickups and wrote heartfelt cards and letters.

Rob Pelinka, Bryant's longtime agent and close friend, recalled his final texts from the NBA superstar minutes before he was killed last month in a helicopter crash. Bryant was attempting to secure an internship for the daughter of another friend who was sitting with him in the chopper.

Michael Jordan called Bryant "a little brother" and said that when he died, "a piece of me died".

Bryant's athletic achievements were only part of the reason roughly 20,000 people gathered on Monday for a public memorial service honoring him at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. The event offered another chance to celebrate Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and the other seven victims of the crash with tears, memories and laughs.

Los Angeles already knew Bryant was much more than a basketball icon. His friends and family told the world.

"I couldn't see him as a celebrity, nor just an incredible basketball player," Vanessa Bryant said. "He was my sweet husband and the beautiful father of my children. He was mine. He was my everything."

The ceremony included musical numbers by Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera. The event concluded with a screening of Dear Basketball, Bryant's Academy Award-winning short film about reluctantly saying goodbye to his passion upon his retirement from the Lakers in 2016.

Fans, many wearing Bryant's jersey or team colors, filled the seats at the arena where Bryant played for the final 17 seasons of a two-decade NBA career spent entirely with Los Angeles' most popular sports franchise.

The mourners included Lakers legends Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Pau Gasol. NBA commissioner Adam Silver joined Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Phil Jackson, Dwyane Wade and dozens of current NBA players. Celebrities such as Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez also attended.