Remembrance Continues In OC For Bryant Helicopter Crash Victims

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — One year ago, a fatal helicopter crash claimed Los Angeles Laker great Kobe Bryant's life, his daughter Gianna, and seven others. They were headed to play on a foggy morning on a fateful flight in a Sikorsky helicopter. There were no survivors.

January 26 will forever be a memorial to that moment that stunned the world. As investigators and lawyers have scrambled to figure out the cause of the crash and lay blame, four Orange County families were forever changed.

Orange Coast College baseball coach Johnn Altobelli, 56, with his wife Keri, 46, and 13-year-old daughter Alyssa perished in the crash.

Mother Sarah Chester, 45, with her daughter Payton, 13, a teammate of Gianna and Alyssa, who attended school in San Juan Capistrano, also died in the crash.

Coach, wife, and mother Christina Mauser, 36, died, leaving behind her husband and young children.

Ara Zobayan, 50, the helicopter pilot, also perished.

As the world struggled to come to terms with the sudden end of nine lives, mourners have paid tribute to the sports legend in many ways. Murals of Bryant color the Southland and the world, with the website www.KobeMural.com mapping hundreds of sites for people to pay their respects.

Before leaving office, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order to put together a National Garden of American Heroes, or National Garden, with Bryant to be included on the list of heroes.

Bryant played his entire 20-season career with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping them win five NBA championships.

The team isn't planning a formal tribute on the anniversary of his death, nor are players scheduled to wear their "Black Mamba" tribute uniforms for Wednesday's game in Philadelphia. However, players have been paying subtle tribute by wearing his signature sneakers and breaking huddles by shouting "Mamba on three!"

Lakers leader LeBron James was asked about the impending anniversary after the Lakers' game on Saturday night.

"Man, it's a saying that says, 'Time heals all,"' James told reporters. "And as devastating and as tragic as it was and still is to all of us involved with it, only time (will help). And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process. Everyone understands that everyone individually is different. Everyone is going to grieve differently. All you can do as a friend or a loved one or anyone in our brotherhood or our family hood that we have here in the Lakers organization is to put an arm around someone when they need it."

Read also:

Gianna Bryant Memorialized By University She Dreamed Of Attending

Mother, Daughter Remembered After Dying In Helicopter Crash

Coach John Altobelli, Wife, Daughter Mourned By Orange County

Christina Mauser: Basketball Coach, Wife, Mother Remembered

Kobe Bryant And Daughter Gianna Laid To Rest In Corona Del Mar

A Mother's Grief, A Warrior's Heart: Vanessa Bryant Speaks Out