Here is a closer look at the three showdowns: Game No. “I think Rip was great at everything - passing, defense. “People used to always say that Kobe was arrogant, but he was supremely confident,” Hicks argued. He later served on Smith’s staff when Hamilton was a senior. He was 6-6, but he had guard skills.”įormer Coatesville and West Chester University point guard, Ricky Hicks, was Hamilton’s coach when he played for the freshman team at Coatesville in 1992-93. “Rip was the tallest player on our squad, so he played a big-man’s position because we needed him inside. “Kobe was a more refined player and he played his natural position (shooting guard) at Lower Merion,” Kershey said. Hamilton was a skinny but gifted kid from gritty Coatesville. They both couple have averaged 40 points a game if they wanted to, but they weren’t about that.”īryant was the high-profile son of a former NBA player who spent his early years living in Italy. “On the basketball court, Kobe and Rip were like poetry in motion,” Smith said. They were the same age, were both projected as shooting guards, and even played together for several seasons in AAU with the Sam Rines All-Stars. Well before going on to NBA greatness, Bryant and Hamilton were targeted early as potential stars. And even though it was 25 years ago, and this is all such a sad time, it’s still worth reliving because we played against one of the greatest players in history in Kobe Bryant.” Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, left, tries to steal the ball from Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton (32) but is whistled for a foul in the first half of a basketball game Thursday, Feb. “This tragedy has brought those games back into my mind. “I’ve talked to a lot of people over the years about the three games we had against Kobe,” Kershey acknowledged. “I can’t go into Bookman Barber Shop without somebody bringing those games up,” Smith said. His assistant, Jim ‘Scoogie’ Smith took over as head coach. He retired prior to the 1995-96 season and was in the stands for the final showdown. Kershey was on the bench for the first two. Two more followed and both were in the district playoffs that took place at the hallowed Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. The first was a regular season matchup that was one of the iconic games ever played in Coatesville’s home gym, now named after Kershey. In all, there were three epic high school clashes between Kobe and Rip. They were just teenagers, but instantly recognizable in these parts by first name alone: Kobe and Rip. But he was the head coach during the 1994-95 season, when his Red Raiders took on Kobe and Lower Merion not once but twice.Įven back in the mid-1990’s, the high school duo were already local basketball royalty. Kershey didn’t know Bryant as well as his most successful player, Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton. “Then we later found out it wasn’t just Kobe but his daughter and seven other people,” Kershey said, his voice trailing off. They soon learned that the former Lower Merion High School standout and Los Angeles Lakers superstar had died in a grievous helicopter crash in California. The reaction was similar to what was happening all across the country and beyond. “All of the sudden, on the screen it showed a picture of Kobe Bryant and it said: 1978-2020,” Ross Kershey, 86, recalled. The 1996 McDonald’s All-American Team included Lower Merion’s Kobe Bryant (third from left) and Coatesville’s Richard Hamilton (far right, behind coach). But in an instant, a normal Sunday afternoon abruptly changed. Nothing unusual there for longtime hoops fans like the Kersheys. COATESVILLE > Last weekend, former Coatesville coaching legend Ross Kershey was watching a televised basketball game at his home in Downingtown with his son Scott.
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