Kobe joins a sad list that includes Stevie Ray Vaughan, country singer Troy Gentry, music promoter Bill Graham, NASCAR driver Davey Allison, rally driver Colin McRae and Walt Disney Company president Frank Wells.
The Orange County Register is reporting that today's helicopter crash also claimed the lives of John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa. Altobelli was an assistant baseball coach at the University of Houston in 1987 and was beginning his 24th season as head baseball coach at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Altobelli had won four state titles. He was 56.