RESPECTS: Paid to Del, Kobe

I just wanted to send a note about the loss of Kobe Bryant. My friend Del Tanner, who passed a few years ago, was a trainer for the L.A. Lakers for many years before Kobe was on the team.

Del was in Europe doing some schooling for U.S. dignitaries and teaching their children. He had an accident on a railroad and broke his back and got some really bad medical care, which haunted him for the rest of his life. Anyhow, Del was a physical trainer for the Lakers and later drove a team of horses, “Dick and Duke,” around Reno, and Carson and Virginia City, Nev., heading up the Reno Rodeo, driving 600 head of cattle to Reno from Doyle to Reno for the event. (Del drove the wimp wagon for some of the saddle sore cowboys on the drive and helped us out at our shows in Libby, Mont.) He lived in Mindon, Nev., with his wife Beth Long, and was always a team player in our horse activities.

He and Kobe will both be missed. These are folks who only come around once in a lifetime and we are proud to have known them.

RON DAYTON

Kootenai County