Former Cedar Cliff High School basketball coach Pat Gahr remembers Kobe Bryant before he was 'Mamba.'
Gahr first saw Bryant play, when Bryant was in high school. And, Gahr's Cedar Cliff team would later face the soon to be superstar on the court in the first round of the 1996 State Championship playoffs.
"When I see those players that I coached that's the first thing that they mention, remember when we played Kobe?" said Gahr.
The night of the sold out game between Lower Merion and Cedar Cliff, Gahr said there was a line out the door. He said he took a walk around to shake off his nerves and eager fans asked Gahr if he could help them get inside the game.
Gahr still remembers one moment on the court where Bryant caught a ball "and he caught it with his left hand here and stuffed it," dunking it into the hoop. That dunk against Cedar Cliff, Gahr said, would later be publicized in a scholastic book written about Bryant.
"And they called it the dunk and they talked about his dunk in the playoffs," said Gahr.
Gahr said he tried to speak to Bryant after the game but Bryant was 'surrounded' by media. Bryant and his teammates would go on to win the state championship that year.
Gahr looks back with pride on the game, knowing his players once took on a man now known as one of basketball's greats.
"He did everything. That's why he was good. And, you know, his team was pretty good. But, they would have been pretty average without him," said Gahr.
He added, "my players have a memory, and I have a memory, for the rest of their lives."