Larry Bird

Bird was a celebrity on his High School basketball team in French Lick, Indiana. The population of the town was only 2,100, but 4,000 people attended his last HS game. He enrolled at Indiana, but never played, leaving to attend Northwood Institute, a local Junior College where he spent one year, waiting to be eligible to play at Indiana State, where he transferred the next year. He brought respectibility to the Indiana State program which culminated in losing to Magic Johnson's Michigan State team in the NCAA Tournament Title Game in 1979. Larry left Indiana State with a career scoring average of better than 30 points a game, fifth all-time in NCAA history, and a 3 year school record of 81-13. Larry was named the 1978-79 Sporting News Player of the Year and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards. He was the number six pick in the 1978 draft by Boston, as a junior, but he joined the team a year later, because he chose to stay in school for his last year of eligibility. His stellar play in his first year led to his Rookie of the Year selection in 1980.

Overall, Larry Bird will be remembered with an elite five or six players including Chamberlain, Magic, Jordan and Erving. He will be known for both his individual ability and being a team player, and boy were his teams great with the likes of Robert Parish and Kevin McHale who joined Bird on the NBA's All-Time 50 Greatest Players Team which was announced prior to the 1996 season. Don't forget other supporting teammates who were superstars in their own right such as Dennis Johnson, Danny Ainge and Cedric Maxwell. Larry Legend was a terrific competitor and a classy sportsman.

We all remember his ability to hit the remarkable shot and don't forget his commercials with Michael Jordan where he makes the unbelievable shots. NBA players probably still have nightmares of his smooth jumper that would fall with deadly accuracy from ten feet or twenty feet. There may never be another with such a consistent sweet stroke. He played his entire career with the Celtics. The Boston fans were the envy of many others who couldn't count on their star to score 25 points or more a night, combined with making 5 remarkable passes and grabbing 8 rebounds, including 2 or 3 when they counted the most. His #33 Celtics Jersey has, of course, been retired to join all the other Boston Greats who have their numbers hanging from the rafters. On June 29, 1998, Bird was bestowed with the highest honor given to a basketball player, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was inducted in ceremonies on October 2nd. Now he can go for dual election...ala Lenny Wilkens...as both a player and a coach...but that will be another day.

Bird's all-time stats are impressive: 21,791 points (11th. all-time), 1,556 steals (8th all-time), 0.886 FT Percentage (fourth all-time), 8,974 rebounds, 5,965 assists and 897 games played. He has a career 24.3 scoring average to lead the Celtics all-time list. Larry Bird was a successful player due both to talent and hard work. He was ususally the first Celtic to arrive on game day when he would practice hitting jump shots for hours from everywhere on the floor, including dozens of free-throws. His consistency was evidenced in the similar stats he compiled year after year during his legendary career.

Bird retired in 1992 after 13 seasons. His last two years were plagued with chronic back problems, he often spent his time laying on the floor to rest his back when not playing on the court. After retiring, he worked for the Celtics Front Office as a Special Assistant for 5 years. Many thought he might replace M.L. Carr as coach, but Rick Pitino was given that job, and Larry Legend returned to his home state of Indiana to succeed Larry Brown as the coach of the Indiana Pacers for the 1997-98 season. He's never coached at any level, but do you think that will stop him from doing an excellent job? I don't. The first half of his rookie year as Indiana's coach was unprecedented and better than even the most devoted Larry booster would have imagined, leading to his team having the best record at the break and an AS Game coaching selection. He led the Pacers on a record setting pace for the most wins in franchise history with 58 and a second place finish in the Eastern Conference to Chicago. Larry brought two unique contributions to the table as a rookie NBA coach. First, he immediately won the players respect and they want to both play and win for him, doing whatever it takes. He has focussed on the basics, which has so far paid off. Second, he has implemented a rather unique coaching paradigm using an offensive and defensive coordinator like the NFL. His coaches implement separate strategies and drill for offense and defense which Larry oversees. Bird was named Coach of the Year his very first year as a coach at any level. In his rookie year as coach he led the Pacers to the second best record in the east, and a trip all the way to the conference finals, only to lose against Jordan's Bulls.

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