"You are responsible for how people remember you — or don't. So don't take it lightly. If you do it right, your game will live on in others. ... So leave everything on the court. Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend." — Kobe Bryant

Those were the words from the late basketball icon just after the final game of his 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Tuesday marked one year since the tragic helicopter crash that deceased Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other passengers as they were commuting to the Mamba Sports Academy in Calabasas, California for a basketball game. 

The loss of a monumental figure that remained a transcending figure in basketball shook the sports world to is core. Arizona guard Terrell Brown Jr. was in his final season at Seattle U, and the Redhawks were traveling back to Washington after a game against Cal State Bakersfield the previous night, when he heard the news about Bryant. 

"You're on the airplane and you wake up to people saying, 'Kobe passed away,' or that he died," said Brown. "You kind of feel like it's fake in a way, because he's somebody that's supposed to live forever.

"But Kobe means a lot for everybody — his basketball skills, the way he competes." 

Before Brown scored a team-high 18 points in the UA's 80-67 win over rival Arizona State, sweeping the Sun Devils for the first time in three seasons, he watched a documentary on Bryant for pregame motivation. 

"That was probably my favorite player ever," Brown said. "He means a lot to the world, that's not just basketball, but a person — a human being."

UA forward Azuolas Tubelis was in his home country of Lithuania and was playing computer games at the time Bryant's passing was released. Tubelis checked his phone and like Brown, the European prospect was in disbelief. 

"I just turned off my PC and started to walk around my bed, like, 'What? This is not true, what?' It's really tough,'" Tubelis said after recording his first-career double-double at Arizona on Monday. 

Bryant's influence on the basketball court stretched across the world, but his Italian background helped shape him into a popular sports figure in Europe.

"All of Europe was shocked," Tubelis said. 

Like Bryant, former Arizona point guard Nico Mannion, now a rookie with the Golden State Warriors, was exposed to both international and American-style basketball growing up, with his father, Pace Mannion, playing professionally for the Utah Jazz and clubs in Italy.  

Accompanied by his father, Mannion attended a Lakers-Jazz playoff game in Salt Lake City when he was “10 or 11 years old” and wanted to meet the man he came to see perform live, Bryant. Mannion's determination — and Italian roots — left him with an everlasting memory. 

“Kobe was my favorite player, so I told my dad, ‘Hey, I want to meet Kobe.’ … He was like, ‘Go down there (towards the locker room)," Mannion said. "There’s going to be a lot of people there, but if you want to get his attention, try saying something in Italian, because he speaks Italian.’

“I went down there and said something in Italian as he came out. He was the last one out of the locker room and had an all-white suit. I said something in Italian and got his attention, and he came over, got on a knee and talked to me for 10 minutes about everything — asking me how school was, how basketball was, what my hobbies are, just had a full conversation about everything.

"For him to be one of the best players in the world, be the last one out of the locker room and take 10 minutes out of his day to get on a knee and spend time with me just really opened my eyes and that it’s bigger than basketball. He made a memory for me that’ll last me a lifetime, and he’s done that for countless people.”

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact sports content producer Justin Spears at 573-4312 or jspears@tucson.com. On Twitter @justinesports