1996. I was six years old and was introduced to basketball by my oldest sister Diana. We started playing in our backyard thanks to a makeshift basketball court made by my dad. Now that I started playing basketball, I wanted to watch this new sport I had begun to learn.

I remember watching men wearing purple and gold jerseys playing against other men dressed in silver and black jerseys. It was a regular season meeting between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. Up to this point, the only name familiar to me in the realm of basketball was Michael Jordan. Something about the Chicago Bulls and winning a lot of trophies.

Something interesting about this Lakers vs. Spurs game though was that one of the players looked different. He was young and played in a distinct style compared to the rest of the players. That player was then 17-year-old Kobe Bryant.

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Bryant was playing against players 10 to 15 years older than him and he was competing with them on the same level, even making it look too easy at times. That would have been like me(a first-grader going into 2nd grade) playing against high schoolers at that time! I watched him and I could see the passion he had for the game. I did not want to be him, I wanted to play like him.

Though I do remember witnessing Jordan win titles and MVP trophies, I didn’t feel like I was part of the MJ era. I was part and I am part of the Kobe Bryant era. And now that era has come to an end. In a poem written by Bryant entitled “Dear Basketball” and posted on the Player’s Tribune, Bryant announced that he will be retiring at the end of the 2015-2016 season.

Throughout his 20-year career, Bryant has donned many nicknames. “Mr. 81”, “Vino” and “The Black Mamba” are among some of the most notorious ones. “Mr. 81” comes from when Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006. “Vino” which translates to “wine”, was given to Bryant as many recognized that his performance seemed to only continue to get refined even as he got to the later stages in his career.

And finally “The Black Mamba”, a nickname he gave himself, Bryant says that he got the idea for the nickname from Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”. The snake, known for its agility and aggressiveness, was used as a code name for a deadly assassin.

“I read up on the animal and said, ‘Wow, this is pretty awesome,” Bryant said in an interview with The New Yorker. “This is a perfect description of how I would want my game to be.”

Bryant is a 5-time NBA Champion, 2-time Finals MVP, Regular season MVP(2008), and an 18-time All-star just to name a few of his myriad accomplishments.

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Bryant played his final game on April 13, 2016 and set another record by dropping 60 points in 101-96 win against the Utah Jazz. The crowd went wild every time the Mamba touched the ball and he was able to deliver a legendary performance that was reminiscent of Bryant in his prime. The perfect storybook ending for an illustrious career filled with ups and downs, mistakes and glories, but a journey that demonstrates redemption, perseverance, an unbreakable spirit, willful determination and a love for the game that will never be matched.

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“Mamba out,” Bryant told the thousands of fans in attendance and to the millions watching all over the world as he walked off the floor of the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the last time as a professional basketball player.

Bryant’s impact on the court is felt all over the world.Year after year, his jersey sits atop of the “Top-selling Jerseys” list. Bryant is a global superstar. His presence alone can draw crowds of thousands wherever he goes.

Broken record after broken record, achievement over achievement and milestone over milestone, Bryant will be leaving an everlasting imprint on the game and his legacy will forever be prevalent when talking about the NBA’s greatest players.

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