Even at the age of 15, Kobe Bryant was a prodigy. Years before he would take the NBA by storm and win five championships, he was dunking like a pro.

In the wake of his tragic death in a helicopter accident on Sunday, footage of a teenage Bryant at a slam dunk contest in 1994, has come to light and it’s a spectacle, from his high school days at Lower Merion in Philadelphia.

It includes a tomahawk dunk, Bryant slamming over two schoolmates kneeling in the lane and Bryant tossing the ball in the air, catching it at its apex and flushing it backwards.

The 1994 Kobe video footage was taken by Brian Gefter, a fellow Lower Merion student who is now an NYC hospitality entrepreneur.

Gefter told The Post that they had put on a charity game and Kobe decided to stage a half-time slam dunk contest. “This footage is so special to me, it was the moment I became a fan of Kobe, when he was just a kid,” Gefter said.

“That moment was the awakening for me and everyone at Lower Merion High School about who Kobe Bryant was, about the talent he had, and a sign of what he would become. He just turned on the magic,” Gefter added.

Bryant landed at Lower Merion after his family moved back to the United States from Italy, where his father Joe Bryant played professional basketball.

By the time he graduated in 1996, Bryant had led the school to a state championship. He scored 2,883 points in four seasons at Lower Merion. As a senior in 1996, he led the Aces to their first state title in 53 years.

“Lower Merion and everything associated with it made me who I am,” Bryant said in 2016, according to USA Today.

This was where he caught the eye of NBA scouts who propelled him into a professional career straight out of high school. Bryant won the 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Contest as a rookie.

The gym at the school bears his name, and today there is a shrine of flowers, jerseys, caps and 33 basketballs to honor the number on his jersey on the high school team.

Two pictures of Bryant are displayed on the walls of the gymnasium he helped build, and there is a 1,000-point banner that bears his name (he scored 2,883 points for his high school team) that is kept in a safe place rather than on display.

Bryant remained close to his alma mater, and students said he would come back every year with shoes and other gear for the team.

Steve Meehan, class of 2008, told NBC News Bryant visited quite often and sometimes could be seen cheering on the team from the bench. He said one of the coaches used to say, “Kobe was us, and we are him.”