Recalling the day the Sky’s Hailey Van Lith brought Kobe Bryant to Central Washington
Just down the road from where Sky guard Hailey Van Lith went to high school is the town of Leavenworth, Washington.
Designed as a German village, it's a popular tourist destination. So if basketball didn't work out, there was always a future slinging beers during Oktoberfest, in theory.
“I was so busy in the winters growing up, because that's like AAU season, that I didn't even get to enjoy like, the fake Christmas, the whole North Pole vibe they've got going on up there,” Van Lith said. “But yeah, Leavenworth is definitely a legendary place, for sure.”
Cashmere High School, where Van Lith played, has a current enrollment of 527 and plays in the smallest classification in Washington. It's generally not a place where world-famous celebrities show up.
On the afternoon of Jan. 11, 2020, NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi walked into the gym just as Cashmere was tipping off against Medical Lake during Van Lith's senior year.
“There was obviously, like you know when something happens in a crowd and everyone kind of goes, ('Gasp') collectively?” Van Lith said. “That's kind of what the vibe was. We were playing a good team that night. So, honestly, I was pretty locked in on trying to have a good game, especially because Kobe was there.
“So I wasn't super paying attention to the buzz in the room, but I do know that it was super packed out and as soon as people saw him there, even more came and people were standing in the hallways trying to peer in.”
Van Lith knew they were coming but believes few others were aware. During the prior year, Bryant somehow caught wind of Van Lith playing for USA Basketball, was impressed, and invited her to Los Angeles to work out with him and Gigi. Naturally, the Bryants wanted to make a return visit.
“I knew like a couple days before, but it was definitely a surprise to all my teammates and the community,” Van Lith said. “Especially in a small town like that, if you tell one person, you're basically telling everybody. So I kept it a secret.
“I think one of my teammates' brother in-law worked at the airport that his plane was coming into, so it kind of got leaked beforehand. But I personally didn't spill the beans.”
A camera crew shot footage of Kobe and Gigi walking into the gym, so maybe they were tipped off. Then again, Van Lith was a big deal during her high school years. By this time, she'd played in the FIBA U-17 World Cup in Belarus, the U-19 World Cup in Thailand, along with two 3-on-3 World Cups in Argentina and Mongolia, winning gold medals in all four events.
After the game against Medical Lake, the Bryants met the players and posed for photos before returning to Los Angeles.
“He’s a super humble guy,” Cashmere coach Brent Darnell said that night, according to the Wenatchee World. “He came in and looked at all the girls and said, ‘You guys play like a bunch of dogs, just nasty tough.' They got a kick out of it. It was a great compliment from him.”
Unfortunately, this amazing story has a tragic epilogue. Just 15 days after the Bryants' trip to Cashmere High School, Kobe, Gigi and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Southern California.
The news shocked the NBA, Los Angeles and the entire world, but it hit Van Lith especially hard.
“Yeah, it was obviously really, really sad,” he said “It's one of those tragic things where it's unexpected, so there's an added emotional element to things that are that sudden. It was terrible, and it was a while before you could wrap your head around what was actually the reality of it.
“At the end of the day, I still carry those moments I had with him and Gigi with me. Especially transitioning to a pro, I try to think in Kobe's mind and channel a lot of those deep lessons he taught me. So super grateful for the relationship we had and obviously he'll impact me for the rest of my career.”