Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, the father of Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and a former NBA player, has passed away at the age of sixty-nine.

As of Tuesday morning, no official cause of death has been disclosed. La Salle University, where Bryant played and later coached, released a statement expressing that he “was a beloved member of the Explorer family and will be dearly missed.”

Fran Dunphy, La Salle’s head coach and a long-time basketball coach in the Philadelphia area, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Bryant had recently suffered a severe stroke.

Since the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter accident over four years ago, Joe Bryant had rarely made public appearances. In 2010, Kobe praised his father’s basketball acumen in an ESPN interview, saying Joe had taught him “from an early age how to view the game, how to prepare for the game and how to execute.”

In January 2020, Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash while traveling to a basketball event in Calabasas, California. Joe and Pam Bryant, married for almost fifty years, attended the memorial service in Los Angeles a month after the accident, despite having had a sometimes strained relationship with Kobe.

Kobe’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, expressed her condolences on Instagram, saying, “Sending our condolences upon hearing the news of my father-in-law’s passing. We hoped things would’ve been different. Although the times we spent together were few, he was always sweet and nice to be around. Kobe loved him very much.”

Joe Bryant was a standout player at La Salle University, averaging 20.8 points per game over two seasons. He went on to play professionally in the United States and abroad. Drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 1975 NBA Draft, he was ultimately acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers.