Over the past nearly 800 days, Philadelphia sports fans lost two great athletes they endeared due to unforeseen tragedy: Kobe Bryant and Roy Halladay.
From 2002 to 2011, the late Kobe Bryant and Roy Halladay were simultaneously considered among the best players in their respective games.
Bryant, across the 2001-02 and 2010-11 seasons, notched 10 All-Star appearances (four of which he was named MVP), two NBA Finals MVP awards, as well as one MVP award for the 2007-08 season.
Also, the Philadelphia native notched 25 Player of the Week awards and 12 Player of the Month awards, among other achievements, ultimately highlighted with his three championships during that time frame.
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For Halladay, he was just as great. He earned winning decisions in more than half of the games he appeared in (170 out of 304), not to mention he notched 63 complete games and 18 shutouts, along with eight All-Star appearances and two Cy Young Awards.
The two respectively retired following the 2015-16 and 2013 seasons. Surely, they were Hall of Fame-bound. Yet, tragically, both never lived to see the day. Halladay was posthumously inducted last year, and just one year later, the same for the Lower Merion alumnus in Bryant.
At the time of sudden passing, it’s difficult to cope with the whirlwind of emotions that overcome us. Who would have thought that when Phillies fans cheered on their ace in 2010, as he recorded just the second-ever post-season no-hitter, that he would pass away just seven years later? Who would have thought that when Bryant played in his final NBA game on April 13, 2016, scoring 60 points, that he would only have a little over 1,380 days of life left to live?
There are many things to learn from Bryant and Halladay’s sudden passing.