Los Angeles Lakers perennial all-star guard Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa will receive the Bill Sharman Humanitarian Award at a gala benefiting the Toberman Neighborhood Center on Saturday.
The award will be presented to the Bryants by Lakers President Jeanie Buss. The gala will be held at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes.
The Bryants formed the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of youths and families in need, in 2011. He has served as the honorary chair of HomeWalk, part of a United Way of Greater Los Angeles campaign to end poverty in Los Angeles County, for four consecutive years.
The San Pedro-based Toberman Neighborhood Center conducts a variety of programs aiding youths and families, including youth literacy programs, adult education, legal services, emergency food and clothing, parenting classes and gang intervention.
Tickets for the gala are $350 each and can purchased at toberman.org/gala. More information on the event is available by contacting Carter Calhoun at (310) 832-1145, ext. 119, or by email at ccalhountoberman.org.
Sharman is one of three people to have been selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. He played on four NBA championship- winning teams with the Boston Celtics and coached the Lakers to their first championship in Los Angeles. He died in 2013 at the age of 87.
