Jason Kelce Honors Kobe Bryant by Wearing Bryant's High School Jersey

Bryant would have turned 42 on Sunday, so Kelce paid tribute to him, just as he did the Flyers on Friday before their playoff Game 6 against the Montreal Canadians when the center wore a Flyers jersey under his Eagles jersey

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles reported for practice early Sunday morning to prepare for one of the warmest and humid days of training camp to date.

As they got ready, right guard Jason Peters told center Jason Kelce that Sunday would have been Kobe Bryant’s 42nd birthday. Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash this past January.

Kelce still had a Bryant jersey that he had purchased recently in his locker, so he decided to wear it out to practice under his Eagles jersey.

It wasn’t any Bryant jersey, but a replica of Bryant’s old No. 33 he wore while at Lower Merion High School, which is right outside Philadelphia’s city limits.

Lower Merion is also where his wife, Kylie, coaches field hockey, so there is familiarity. One night, the Kelce’s were in a bar in Narberth, a small town within the Lower Merion school district, when Kelce saw Bryant’s high school jersey hanging on a wall.

He ended up buying one.

“Unfortunately, it’s a little snug so I don’t get to wear it too often, but I thought it would be a pretty good day after Jason Peters told me it was his birthday,” said Kelce. “I thought it would be a good day to honor a legend from this city and a legend of sports in general.”

Kelce wore a Flyers jersey during Friday’s practice, showing support for the professional ice hockey team with Game Six against the Montreal Canadians on tap later that night. The Flyers won 3-2 to move onto the conference semifinals by beating Montreal in the best-of-seven, 3-games-to-2.

“This is my 10th year here, so I have roots, my wife is from the area, so it’s my home now, for sure,” said Kelce. “It has been for a while now. I’ve supported the Flyers before, I know a number of guys on that team, so that was the reason for wearing that jersey. Then Kobe…I like to be supportive, not just Philly teams, but friends of mine who have been supportive before.”

Kelce said he thinks he is done with the jersey thing for now.

He might have been done on Friday if not being reminded about Bryant’s birthday.

Kobe and the Eagles have history.

It was the team Kobe was a big fan of and gave a motivational speech too when the Eagles went to Los Angeles late in the 2017 season, a season that ended with them winning their first Super Bowl.

“I didn’t know Kobe that much on a personal level,” said Kelce. “Obviously he talked to the team in 2017 on the Super Bowl run and made a very big impact I think with pretty much the entire team. Then I was able to see him another time at an ESPN event and reiterate to him how much I thought that meant to our team.”

Most of the Eagles that year who heard Bryant talk mentioned how inspirational it was and was a helpful ingredient in their drive to a championship.

“I’ve heard a lot of motivational speakers throughout the years and a lot of motivational speakers were players or coaches or whatever, they kind of speak in these old-age mantras or cliches or whatnot and Kobe was very much not like that,” said Kelce. “It was a very real conversation, it felt very authentic, and that why I think it resonated so much with a lot of the guys on the team.

“It was a very moving movement for our team that year, it was a very moving moment for me just to hear the way one of the best basketball players to ever play the game approached business and approached being the best.”

Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.