The tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant hit Billy Thorington of Davenport hard. "I was floored. I heard it on the radio and I was like no way," Billy tells WHO-TV 13.
But Thorington's reaction had little to do with Bryant's hall of fame worthy career and more about what Kobe did for his son Cody in 2007.
Growing up in Davenport, Cody Thorington loved cars, the U.S. Marine Corps, basketball and Kobe Bryant. Billy recalls "It was all about Kobe. That's all he'd ever talk about." Billy said Cory had hoop dreams of his own. "He wanted to play basketball. He was going to be another Kobe."
Then in 2005 at age 13 Cody developed an incurable form of cancer. "Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer. He started out like any kid and I watched him go from a walker to a wheelchair," Thorington says.
Diagnosed with a terminal illness, Cody and his family reached out to Make-A-Wish Iowa. A request to meet Cody's idol Kobe Bryant. "It was amazing. It was really amazing for Cody. They flew us down there and gave us a rental car everything," Billy tells WHO-TV 13.
In March of 2007 Billy, Cody and Cody's younger brother Travis all met Kobe Bryant and took in a game in Los Angeles, but Bryant's 23 points that night took a back seat to his generosity. "Friendly, it was like he knew us. His wife was there and all the cheerleaders. Everybody was really friendly," he says.
A superstar that made Cody forget about his battle against cancer. Unfortunately the cancer never took a break and Cody died just three months after his wish was granted but the Thorington's made sure Cody and Kobe were not far apart. "Kobe gave him his jersey that he wore that night. I folded it up and put it in his casket so it's with him."
It doesn't take Billy long to explain what Kobe Bryant meant to him or his son. "I was really happy to see my kid being that happy. It was like one of his dreams come true. I hate to say it but I'm not that into basketball. I don't watch basketball but he's an amazing person. He really is. On and off the court."
The national Make-A-Wish organizations says Kobe Bryant granted similar wishes to over 200 kids like Cody during is NBA career.
(Photo: WHO-TV)