Picture: Orange Coast College website orangecoastcollege.edu
LOS ANGELES – A former head coach of the Brewster Whitecaps Cape Cod Baseball League team was among those killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in California that also took the life of NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
A message on the Whitecaps’ Twitter page said John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa were among the 7 killed in the crash.
Altobelli, the longtime baseball coach at Orange Coast College in California, lead the Brewster team from 2012 to 2014. His son, J.J., who was not on the helicopter, played for the Whitecaps.
“We are heartbroken and shocked to learn that our former head coach, John Altobelli along with his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa passed away this morning in the helicopter crash that also claimed the lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna,” read a statement on the Whitecaps’ Twitter page.
According to the Orange County Register, Alyssa Altobelli was a club basketball teammate of Bryant’s daughter Gianna.
According to the Orange Coast College website, John Altobelli was an eight-time Orange Empire Conference Coach of the Year and four-time State Coach of the Year. He first joined the college in 1992.
He was recently named the National Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
The crash remains under investigation.
