programs
Kobe: As We Knew Him
Kobe: As We Knew Him
Sunday, November 6, 2022 at 7:00pm
Kaiserman JCC | 45 Haverford Road, Wynnewood, PA 19096
As part of our 50th Anniversary celebration, we invite you to join us at a unique event celebrating the life and career of the most famous person ever to set foot on the Kaiserman JCC’s basketball court: Kobe Bryant. As a middle and high schooler, Kobe spent countless hours honing his craft in our gymnasium.
Join us for a roundtable discussion focused on Kobe’s formative years growing up in Lower Merion, which culminated in the 1996 Pennsylvania State Championship. Our expert panel will include Kobe’s biographer, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mike Sielski, L.A. Lakers team photographer, NBA Senior Photographer and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Andrew D. Bernstein, and several of Kobe’s high school friends, teammates and coaches. The panel will be moderated by Kate Scott, Sixers Play-by-Play Announcer on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The event will include Book Signings of Mike Sielski’s The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality and the book Andrew D. Bernstein collaborated on with Kobe: The Mamba Mentality: How I Play (both of which will be available for purchase).
The evening will be capped off by a Silent Auction of signed prints of Andrew D. Bernstein’s iconic photographs. The selection will feature a wide assortment of 24 20×30 inch prints including 76ers Legends such as Julius Irving, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson, and NBA Legends including Kobe, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and more! Check out the photos that will be available below!
Upgrade to the VIP Experience! Everyone who signs up for either the Hall of Fame or MVP ticket package will be invited to a VIP reception with the authors, panelists and other special guests who were part of Kobe’s origin story. Click here for details.
This event is part of the Kaiserman JCC’s 50th Anniversary fundraising campaign, and all money raised from the event (including admission, proceeds from book sales and the silent auction) will benefit the JCC. If we are able to reach our $33,000 fundraising goal for the event, we’ll be naming the JCC’s basketball court the “The Bryant Basketball Court” in memory of Kobe & Gianna Bryant.
Click here to purchase tickets!
Ticket pricing: $36 – $360
Schedule of Events:
5:00 PM: VIP Reception, Silent Auction Begins
7:00 PM: Roundtable Discussion
Silent Auction Ends 15 Minutes after the Roundtable Discussion
Mike Sielski and Andrew D. Bernstein will be available to sign copies of their books after the Roundtable Discussion.
Thank you to our sponsors!
About the Authors:
Mike Sielski
Mike Sielski is the author of three books, including The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. He has been a sports columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Inquirer.com since 2013 and was formerly a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and The Year’s Best Sports Writing, and in 2015 the Associated Press Sports Editors voted him the top sports columnist in America. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two sons.
Andrew D. Bernstein
Like many of the professional athletes he photographs, Andrew D. Bernstein is recognized as an all-star in sports photography. The unique personal rapport Bernstein has developed with athletes, coaches and teams over the years allows him exclusive access to special behind-the-scenes moments. A co-founder of NBA Photos, Bernstein is the key photographic contributor to NBA Entertainment’s global media platforms, which include NBA.com, all league publications and NBA licensed products. He has been the team photographer for twelve professional home teams which won championships in basketball (Lakers in 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2020), baseball (Dodgers in 1988) and hockey (Kings in 2012 and 2014). Bernstein has covered 40 NBA Finals and 38 All-Star Games as the senior NBA photographer.
In 2018, Bernstein collaborated with five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant on the worldwide bestselling book “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play,” a unique look at Bryant’s 20 year career through Bernstein’s lens. Previous books include “NBA Hoop Shots: Classic Moments From a Super Era” published in 1996 and “Journey To The Ring” co-authored with Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson in 2010.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named Bernstein a 2018 Curt Gowdy award recipient, acknowledging his contributions to basketball media. Bernstein has also been inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame as well as the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Bernstein co-founded a new sports content platform called “Legends Of Sport”. His weekly podcast is on all major platforms. Legends Of Sport can be followed on: Twitter @legends_ofsport, Instagram @legendsofsport, website www.legendsofsport.net, YouTube and TikTok at Legends Of Sport. Bernstein’s photography can be found at www.adbapi.com and Instagram @adbphotoinc.
Andrew was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and earned his B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. Andrew and his wife Mariel reside in Los Angeles, CA and are the parents of four children.
About the Moderator
Kate Scott
Sixers Play-by-Play Announcer on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The first woman to call an NFL & NBA game on the radio, men’s basketball at the Olympics, Copa América and Gold Cup soccer for Fox and an NHL game in the United States, Kate Scott – the television voice of the Philadelphia 76ers – continues to break barriers as a leader in sports broadcasting.
In the summer of 2021, Scott made her Olympic broadcasting debut as the play-by-play voice of men’s and women’s basketball in Tokyo. Scott called Luka Doncic’s 48-point performance in his first Olympic game, the emotional international swan songs of Pau Gasol and Luis Scola, the Japanese women’s remarkable run to the gold medal game, and the Australian men’s first and long-awaited winning of a major tournament medal, as Matisse Thybulle and the Boomers held off Slovenia to capture bronze.
Earlier in the year, Scott called the Professional Hockey Federation’s Isobel Cup semis and final on NBCSN and helped launch “The Morning Roast”, the new morning show on 95.7 FM “The Game” in San Francisco. Previously, Scott spent five years doing it all at the Pac-12 Networks. From calling football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, and softball, to reporting for everything from rowing to rugby, to anchoring and hosting the award-winning features show “Our Stories.”
Scott continues to call games for NBC and Fox and in the fall of 2021 provided play-by-play for Learfield’s new “College Football Saturday Night”, a nationally syndicated game of the week available on over 110 radio stations, YouTube, and Facebook with analyst and former Philadelphia Eagle, Mike Golic.
Prior to the Pac-12 Network, Scott spent six years as the first full-time female voice on KNBR 680-AM, three seasons as the television sideline reporter for the San Jose Earthquakes, called high school football for the Comcast Hometown Network, and anchored Saturday night sports for NBC Bay Area.
In addition to radio and television, Kate’s done voice and podcast work for over a decade.
A native of Clovis, California, Scott earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from UC Berkeley.
Click here to purchase tickets!
