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In a ceremony on Wednesday, Kobe Bryant’s handprints and footprints were placed in the forecourt of the famous TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss and former Lakers head coach Byron Scott both spoke at the ceremony honoring Bryant, according to CBS Los Angeles.
The imprints of Bryant’s hands and feet had been in storage since February 2011, when he created them as part of an event before the NBA All-Star Game at the Staples Center.
Bryant was the first athlete to have his hands and feet imprinted in cement at the Chinese Theatre, and now those impressions will sit outside the L.A. landmark forever.
Back in 2011, Bryant told KCAL that it was a “tremendous honor” to create his own imprints as so many Hollywood stars had done in the past, according to CBS Sports.
The brilliance of Kobe is that he was a student of the game but never kept his eye off of the future, and the idea that his handprints and footprints would be immortalized in the City of Angels was not lost on Black Mamba.
“You come back in 100 years, it’s going to be there,” Bryant said at the time. “It’s not going anywhere. It’s here forever. You are part of Los Angeles forever.”
Kobe Bryant’s thoughts in his own words
“I’ve played with IVs before, during and after games. I’ve played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don’t miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn’t that serious in the first place,” said Bryant.
On chasing success
“When you make a choice and say, ‘Come hell or high water, I am going to be this,’ then you should not be surprised when you are that. It should not be something that is intoxicating or out of character because you have seen this moment for so long that … when that moment comes, of course it is here because it has been here the whole time, because it has been [in your mind] the whole time.”
Kobe Bryant’s perspective on persevering through life
“Have a good time. Enjoy life. Life is too short to get bogged down and be discouraged. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. Put one foot in front of the other, smile and just keep on rolling.”
On failure
“The story continues. If you fail on Monday, the only way it’s a failure is if you decide to not progress from that. To me, that’s why failure is not existent. If I fail today, I’m going to learn something from that failure. I’m going to try again.”
On self doubt
“When we are saying this cannot be accomplished, this cannot be done, then we are short-changing ourselves. My brain, it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself ‘you are a failure,’ I think that is almost worse than dying.”
On hard work
“Those times when you stay up late and you work hard; those times when don’t feel like working — you’re too tired, you don’t want to push yourself — but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream. That’s the dream. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And if you guys can understand that, what you’ll see happen is that you won’t accomplish your dreams, your dreams won’t come true, something greater will.”
On pressure
“We psyche ourselves up too much. Like if you try to talk yourself into, ‘Oh, this is a big moment, this is a big shot,’ you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. You shot that shot hundreds and thousands of times. Just shoot another one.”
On hard work
“I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.”
On overcoming fear
“The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s–less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn’t kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn’t really exist if you’re in the right frame of mind.”