Nadia Wallace on the Staples Center court after the Lakers won the 2010 NBA championship final against the Boston Celtics.
Nadia and Dexter Wallace radiate fan love at a Lakers Game.
Nadia and Dexter at Staples Center with a banner marking Kobe’s last season before his 2016 retirement from professional basketball.
Dexter and Nadia with the 6ft. 6in. tall Kobe Bryant in September 2019.
The Wallace’s Lakers Quilt made using their t-shirts.
Lakers gear, proudly owned and proudly worn by Dexter and Nadia Wallace.
The Wallace’s collection of Lakers memorabilia marks both Kobe’s career highlights and, with such items as Sports Illustrated's 100-page Kobe Bryant issue and Time Magazine’s Kobe Bryant cover, pays tribute to his legacy.
Nadia and Dexter pose with their two daughters in front of Leave a Legacy, a Venice Boulevard mural by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. Completed after the Lakers 17th NBA championship win in October 2020, the mural features the winning Lakers team with Kobe Bryant seated above them holding the trophy. Behind the team, fans are depicted with signs that include “Vote,” “Education is Power” and “Justice Now.”
LA Lakers/Kobe Bryant Memorabilia
Dexter & Nadia Wallace
Fine Arts
The story of the LA Lakers glitters with the names of basketball’s star players: Magic Johnson, Kareen Abdul-Jabaar, and Shaquille O’Neil among them. But for Nadia and Dexter Wallace no player shines more brightly than Kobe Bryant, so their Lakers memorabilia collection focuses on “the only player in NBA history to spend 20 seasons with one team.”[1]
“Dexter has been a fan since he was a little kid,” said Nadia, “and I really became a Lakers fan during high school…It was one of the main things we had in common when we first met in college.”
Their serious collecting began 12-years ago, when Nadia graduated and became an event merchandise manager at Staples Center. “I had envisioned myself either working for the Lakers or close to them during college,” Nadia said, so “this was a very exciting moment for me.”
The Wallace’s collection includes a quilt made of Lakers t-shirts; a pennant marking the 2006 game where Bryant scored 81 points, the second-best score of all time; as well as purple and gold jackets and jerseys; and Kobe’s 2018 book The Mamba Mentality. Describing his influential ethos, Bryant said: “Hard work outweighs talent— every time. Without studying, preparation and practice, you’re leaving the outcome to fate. I don’t do fate.”[2]
Dexter and Nadia’s favorite piece in the collection is a photograph from September, 2019: “Throughout the 2 years at Staples Center, I worked hundreds of events including what would be Kobe Bryant’s last 2 championships, in 2009 & 2010…After years of watching him from afar we were able to finally meet him and commemorate the moment with a photo. This would mean even more to us since he would be gone a few months later.”
Kobe Bryant died on January 26, 2020 in a helicopter crash that also killed his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.
“The pieces that we collect [highlight] moments that we’ve experienced with family, friends, and each other,” Nadia explained. We take pride in being a part of Laker Nation and we are treasuring every item we have of Kobe Bryant even more due to his tragic passing.”
NOTES
[1] Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, Heavy.com, “Lakers’ Kobe Bryant Gets Ultimate High Praise from Rival Gilbert Arenas”. https://heavy.com/sports/2019/08/kobe-bryant-gilbert-arenas/. Accessed 12/20/2020
[2] Leena Tailor, Entertainment Tonight, “Kobe Bryant Day: What ‘Mamba Mentality’ Meant in His Own Words.” https://www.etonline.com/kobe-bryant-day-what-mamba-mentality-meant-in-his-own-words-140424. Accessed: 12/20/2020.