She didn’t know who Kobe Bryant was, not in the big picture sense of knowing. Brynn Downer is just 6 years old, too young to care about fame and fortune. She judges people the way little kids judge everybody. Are you nice? Do you want to be my friend? Kobe was Brynn’s daddy’s friend. Whenever he saw her, he always scooped Brynn up, always hit her with a high five, always smiled as fiercely at her as she grinned at him, and that was good enough. He was nice. He wanted to be her friend.
In the wake of Bryant’s death, the hashtag #GirlDad has gained steam on social media, the outgrowth of a touching story shared by ESPN anchor Elle Duncan about Bryant’s joy of being the father of four girls. Gregg Downer didn’t really know about the hashtag when he called me on Wednesday morning. He had heard something about it, but didn’t know the particulars. He didn’t need a hashtag, anyway, or someone else’s story to know of Bryant’s parenthood joy. Brynn’s dad knew it…
