Bird was born on December 7, 1956 in the small town of French Lick Indiana, population 2,100. He was the star of the town and four thousand people attended his last high school game. Bird had originally enrolled at Indiana, but the pressure a of a school with a bigger population than his hometown was too much for him. He attended a local junior college for awhile, but than a recruter from Indiana State convinced him into going there. Bird lead Indiana State to a remarkable 81-13 record for the three years he was there. Along with an impressive 30 plus points per game average(fifth all-time). The highlight of Bird's college career had to be when he led his team to the NCAA Tournament Title Game in '79, which they lost to Michigan State. But that game started on of the greatest rivalry's of all, Bird vs. Magic.
Bird was drafed in the first round(6th overall) by the Boston Celtics. From the moment he was drafted he was unstopable, beating Magic Johnson for Rookie of the Year Award. In just one year he lead the Boston Celtics to the NBA final, which they won. He was the ultimate team player, with probably the best three point shot in the history of the game. He two more title after his first, in 1884 and 1986, but appeared in the finals six times and help create one of the greatest rivalrys, The Celtics verus The Lakers.
Along with winning three championship he also won almost every other award possible. He won three regular season M.V.P's(1984,1985,1986), two finals M.V.P's(1984 and 1986), and one All-Star M.V.P(1982). He also won three straight Long-Distance Shootout and one Olympic Gold Medal(1992). Even more he was named to nine All-NBA First Teams(1980-1988), three All-NBA Second Defensive Teams(1982-1984), tweleve NBA All-Star Teams. With all these acomplishments you could tell nothing could stop Larry Bird, except injury(reason for retirement).
Bird is currently head coach of the Indiana Pacer, whom he lead to the second best record in the Eastern Conference. Bird has already begun to show his greatness as a coach being choosen head coach of the NBA All-Star Team and winning NBA Coach of the Year Award.
| Year | Team | GP | FG% | FT% | RPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976-77 | Indiana State | 28 | 54.4 | 84.0 | 13.3 | 32.8 |
| 1977-78 | Indiana State | 32 | 52.4 | 79.3 | 11.5 | 30.0 |
| 1978-79 | Indiana State | 34 | 53.2 | 83.1 | 14.9 | 28.6 |
| TOTALS | 94 | 53.3 | 82.2 | 13.3 | 30.3 | |
| Year | Team | GP | FG% | FT% | StlPG | BlkPG | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979-80 | Boston | 82 | 47.4 | 83.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 10.4 | 4.5 | 21.3 |
| 1980-81 | Boston | 82 | 47.8 | 86.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 10.9 | 5.5 | 21.2 |
| 1981-82 | Boston | 77 | 50.3 | 86.3 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 10.9 | 5.8 | 22.9 |
| 1982-83 | Boston | 79 | 50.4 | 84.0 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 11.0 | 5.8 | 23.6 |
| 1983-84 | Boston | 79 | 49.2 | 88.8 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 10.1 | 6.6 | 24.2 |
| 1984-85 | Boston | 80 | 52.2 | 88.2 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 10.5 | 6.6 | 28.7 |
| 1985-86 | Boston | 82 | 49.6 | 89.6 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 9.8 | 6.8 | 25.8 |
| 1986-87 | Boston | 74 | 52.5 | 91.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 9.2 | 7.6 | 28.1 |
| 1987-88 | Boston | 76 | 52.7 | 91.6 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 9.3 | 6.2 | 29.9 |
| 1988-89 | Boston | 6 | 47.1 | 94.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 6.2 | 4.8 | 19.3 |
| 1989-90 | Boston | 75 | 47.3 | 93.0 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 9.5 | 7.5 | 24.3 |
| 1990-91 | Boston | 60 | 45.4 | 89.1 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 8.6 | 7.2 | 19.5 |
| 1991-92 | Boston | 45 | 46.6 | 92.6 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 9.6 | 6.8 | 20.2 |
| TOTALS | 897 | 49.6 | 88.6 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 10.0 | 6.4 | 24.3 | |
Logo's and pitures were found at www.unc.edu/~lbrooks2/ and carver.holycross.edu/user/cl1999/acanarra/green.html