The 16th-leading scorer of all-time in NCAA mens basketball history scored 2,850 points in just three seasons an incredible 30.3 career scoring average after enrolling at Indiana University in the fall of 1974. Bird nasceu em West Baden Springs e cresceu em French Lick, em Indiana, e iniciou a sua carreira no basquete ao fazer parte de seu time no colegial, sendo posteriormente selecionado pela Indiana University e por seu legendrio tcnico, o explosivo Bob Knight.Contudo, com um time repleto de estrelas e uma atmosfera no muito compatvel com seu estilo de . Bird was 20, 21 and 22 years old when he eventually played college ball for Indiana State. 1 ranking. when they were picking teams! Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. And the rest is history. Would an 18-year-old Bird have been ready to take a complementary, if not starring, role as a freshman in the second or third weekend of the NCAA tournament? . As of today, his net worth is around $75 million. He even plays defense, although that's not what's causing the NBA Boston Celtics to salivate over him.". Finally, with the Celtics in a decline that hit bottom in 1996-97, Bird decided to take the plunge. Bird didnt let the team down. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Larry Bird - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more . Despite being 6 feet 9 inches and 206 centimeters tall, he weighs just roughly 220 pounds and 100 kilograms. The Official Store of the Larry Bird Indiana State Jersey for College. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Even if we dont rewrite Mays season-ending injury in this post, could Larry Bird have gone from being snubbed by the 15-player AP All-State Team one spring to a March Madness hero the next? Bird earned an assortment of accolades during his time at Indiana State. Attendance often reached 1,600 and they were all there to watch the blond-haired shooting whiz with a funny smile named Larry Joe Bird. Started collecting garbage upon his return to French Lick. He led the league in free-throw percentage four times. Mike Hayes, a Kentucky Wesleyan player, recounted the game, vividly remembering Birds bizarre, ungainly swing. He was particularly hard on freshmen players, such as a young Larry Bird. Net Worth, Salary & Earnings of Larry Bird in 2023. The Hick from French Lick. Imagine what he wouldve done with a Hall-of-Fame head coach and future NBA players as teammates! In his other eight seasons as a DI head coach, he won just 96 games and compiled a .384 winning percentage. Their top eight scorers eventually played in the NBA and they were a 31-1 juggernaut that ran through the Big Ten gauntlet unscathed and suffered their only loss of the season against Kentucky, 92-90, in the regional final. Editors note: This is part of a series of stories revisiting the biggest what-ifs in IU history. Like Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Dave Cowens, the low-key Bird never forced the spotlight upon himself, but rather was a player who brought out the best in the players around him. At the time, Bird was a junior at Indiana State University and decided he wanted to play his senior year . . Here are some of the awards Larry Bird won in college: However, Bird was all business in spite of the awards he won and the fanfare he received. Although Johnson also turned in an impressive first season for the NBA-champion Los Angeles Lakers, Bird was named Rookie of the Year and made the first of his 12 trips to the All-Star Game. It began as gentle ribbing, poking fun at Birds propensity to spend a majority of his free time getting ice and massages in the ISU training room. In 1977-78 the Celtics had compiled a 32-50 record, their worst since 1949-50. . Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson Stats. Larry Joe Bird (Larry Legend, The Hick from French Lick, Kodak, The Great White Hope) Position: Small Forward and Power Forward Shoots: Right 6-9, 220lb (206cm, 99kg) . ", Indiana State teammate Carl Nicks: "It's a tremendous feeling to play with him he brings out the best in everybody. This blog is forever grateful for the meme template that sweet, sweet banner gave us. Maybe Bird wouldve spent the summer of 1975 celebrating the first of back-to-back national titles at IU, rather than playing for Hancock Construction, a state-champion AAU team sponsored by the mayor of Mitchell, Indiana, which was the only team capable of knocking off the mighty Indiana All-Stars in an exhibition. Check out 50 great assists by Larry Bird. Like many great national championship teams, IU faced a rebuild or a reload or whatever you want to call it the next year. January 19, 2023 3:00 am ET. It may have also hurt him in his transition to a big state school, where he lasted a matter of weeks after the start of the school year. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. He was remarking to one of the players before the game that he just wanted to do well; he didnt want to let the team down.. Bird took just two shots that night and made both, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, while he helped teammates Carl Nicks and Steve Reed score 50 combined. Indiana State went 81-13 during the three seasons in which Larry Bird played for the Sycamores. Forward Larry Bird played 13 seasons for the Celtics. He initially enrolled at Indiana University in 1974 but dropped out before the season began. Fans always seemed to be willing to give a ride to Birds parents, who couldnt afford a car of their own. Entdecke Spielplan College Basketball jhrliche Vorschau Menge 2 1977-78-1978-79 Vogel Magie in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! The Orlando forward played only 11 games this season after missing two years with a torn ACL. Scott Horner. He said he was prepared to leave the team after the 2010-11 season with the Pacers headed in the right direction. He averaged better than 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Sycamores during his first campaign. When I started here, I wanted to see the high school, college and professional basketball worlds come together, and Bird symbolizes that. RELATED: The complete results from the best #MarchMadnessMoments bracket. Born in 1956, in the state of Indiana, this player is known as the biggest reason behind why the Boston Celtics were led to the NBA championship in 1981, 1984, and 1986. The end of Birds career was at hand, but not before one last achievement: a gold medal with the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team, which dominated the competition at Barcelona and won millions of fans for the sport with its brilliance. Finally, Bird enrolled at Indiana State, which had posted 12-14 records in each of the two previous years and where the pressure was not quite the same as at Indiana a perennial Big Ten power and national title contender. Maybe the UCLA dynasty, which featured 10 national titles in 12 years under John Wooden, the last coming in 1975, would have passed the torch to a burgeoning era of IU basketball under Bob Knight. So he cut the ties and went home. The Boston Celtics had selected him in the 1978 NBA Draft, hoping that Bird, who had become eligible for the NBA after his junior year, might forgo his senior season-but knowing he was worth the wait even if he didnt. Couldn't have happened. Knight went on"at 6-'6" and 180 lbs, I could not envision Bird being what he became, but I could see where he could become a "darned" good player for us". Knight signed Bird up to play at Indiana in the spring of his senior year.! I'm going to assume this is legit because he lists about 20 million sources at the end of it. Bird returned to his role with the Pacers in 2013 before stepping down in 2017 to assume an advisory role for the franchise. Play Index. Bird soon realized that it was actually HE who was the target of Knight's ridicule--because of the way he had come off of a screen in a pick up game. The Sycamores went 81-13 during Birds three-year career. He scored 136 points in five NCAA tournament games, leading the Sycamores to the national championship game, where they fell to the Michigan State Spartans. Though Larry Bird never won a scoring or rebounding title, he produced stats comparable to those of the NBA's best and brightest through his well-rounded play, dizzying . Birds concentration and composure were unmatched. Larry Bird was such a player. His Mom and Dad divorced while Bird was in HS, His dad shot and killed himself a year later. 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Real men play with balls this size, Warn said, glaring at Bird. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. I didn't say that Bird was the best college basketball player of all time. Known as 'Chief', Parish played 21 seasons in the NBA and was one of the mainstays in Boston during the '80s, leading the Celtics to three titles. All rights reserved. Looking at his stats alone, he is known as one of the greatest pure shooters in . Lost to most people in the basketball statistics for the Springs Valley team that year, however, was a short piece in a Bedford newspaper that noted, "The freshman free-throw trophy was presented to Larry Bird. He's an impressive figure with incredible rivalries, but there are still tons of things that younger NBA fans should know about Larry Legend. 2 Notre Dame, No. Hardly a change of clothes each day. And Warn, firm in his belief Bird would look foolish on a baseball field, was willing to give him the chance to embarrass himself. We present them here for purely educational purposes. Maybe in ways that we cant totally appreciate, measure or describe, the NCAA tournament might just be five percent less today if Bird never winds up in Terre Haute. As a senior, Bird became the schools all-time scoring champion and about 4,000 people attended his final home game. Learn more and register, Scores from any date in BAA/NBA or ABA history, Frequently Asked Questions about the NBA, WNBA and Basketball, Basketball-Reference.com Blog and Articles, Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREE. Larry Bird was 1 of the NBA's most clutch players ever, amassing 3 MVPs while leading the Celtics to 5 Finals and 3 titles in the 1980s. The Whole Bird thing reminds me of that old country song"I overlooked and orchid while searching for a rose"! Larry Bird's book is incredible. (Larry Legend; The Hick from French Lick), Draft: Boston Celtics, 1st round (6th pick, 6th overall), 1978 NBA draft, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:03AM. Bird nearly doubled the Sycamores' win total year-over-year from 13 to 25 after sitting out just one year in 1975-76, rather than two, after IU signed papers for Bird's release.