Joe Bryant ✝

After starring at La Salle University, Bryant, a 6\'9" (2.07 m) forward, was drafted in the first round by the Golden State Warriors in 1975. Before the season started, though, he was dealt to his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers, with whom he played for four seasons. His 1976–77 Sixers team, featuring NBA all-stars Julius Erving, Doug Collins and George McGinnis, reached the NBA finals, but eventually lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 4 games to 2. Bryant headed back to the West Coast when he was traded by the 76ers to the San Diego Clippers, for whom he played from 1979–82. In the first game of the 1979–80 season at home in San Diego, Bryant slam dunked on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, however, despite that and a 46-point effort by Bryant\'s Sixer/Clippers teammate World B. Free (Then known as Lloyd Free), the Lakers won the game off a game winning sky hook by Abdul-Jabbar.\n', ' After a final NBA season with the Houston Rockets in 1983, Bryant headed to Europe, playing seven seasons in Italy with clubs of the Italian A1 League and the Italian A2 League. He played with the Italian clubs AMG Sebastiani Rieti (1984–86), Viola Reggio Calabria (1986–87), Pistoia (1987–89) and Reggio Emilia (1989–91). He twice had 53-point games with Pistoia, in the 1987–88 season.\n', ' Bryant continued to play into his fifties, appearing in several games for the Boston Frenzy of the fledgling American Basketball Association.\n', '