Orange Coast College (OCC) baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa passed away in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant.
The tragic helicopter crash that occurred on Sunday claimed nine lives including that of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
Christina Mauser who was the assistant basketball coach for harbor Day School where Kobe Bryant’s older daughter attends school. Her husband Matt Mause, who is a drummer for Tijuana Dogs, posted the following statement on Facebook:
“My kids and I are devastated. We lost our beautiful wife and mom today in a helicopter crash,”
John Altobelli who was also known as “Coach Alto” was the head baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California.
OCC President Angelica Suarez made the following statement:
“We have lost a member of our OCC family, and our hearts are broken,”
“Coach Altobelli was a giant on our campus – a beloved teacher, coach, colleague and friend. This is a tremendous loss for our campus community.”
Alyssa Altobelli was a player on the same basketball team as Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna. They were on their way to Mamba Sports Academy which was co-founded by Kobe Bryant and was holding a basketball tournament that weekend.
Orange Coast baseball associate head coach Nate Johnson told The Daily Beast how John Altobelli and Kobe Bryant became friends as both their daughter played on the same team that Kobe Bryant was coaching.
“He loved going to every single practice, because it’s Kobe Bryant. So you’re seeing that guy coach. And he’s seeing him coach his daughter in a sport that she loved to play. He didn’t miss many practices and he loved going out and Kobe would talk to him and stuff,”
“He and Kobe had a special thing just because they did coach and play and understood sports and I think Kobe saw that in Alto and that’s why that relationship was able to kind of take off.” Johnson Said.
