Sage Hill, St. Margaret’s Bond to Honor Victims of Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash
Sage Hill, St. Margaret’s Bond to Honor Victims of Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash
By Dan Abano, Orange County Register
Players and coaches from the Sage Hill and St. Margaret’s girls basketball teams stood in the middle of the court, locked arms and bowed their heads. The San Joaquin League schools were no longer rivals.
They were were brothers and sisters.
Sage Hill and St. Margaret’s, two Orange County high schools rocked to the core by the Calabasas helicopter crash on Jan. 26, leaned on each other Tuesday night.
“It was really emotional,” Sage Hill junior forward Emily Elliott said. “For today especially, it was really important that we went out and played our hearts out. Not only playing hard but also having fun — to honor them.”
“Them”, of course, meant the nine victims of the helicopter crash that struck the Mambas youth girls basketball team and its families, coaches and a pilot.
All the victims were remembered Tuesday. Lakers great Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, 13. Payton Chester, 13, and her mother Sarah. Alyssa Altobelli, 14, and her parents John (Orange Coast College baseball coach) and Keri. Mambas assistant coach Christina Mauser (Edison). Pilot Ara Zobayan.
Sage Hill School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and athletic and other School administered programs.