Larry Joe Bird is an American former professional basketball player, coach and executive. He played for the Boston Celtics for 13 seasons, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team known as ‘The Dream Team’ He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017.
About Larry Bird in brief
Larry Joe Bird is an American former professional basketball player, coach and executive in the National Basketball Association. Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He played for the Boston Celtics for 13 seasons, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team known as ‘The Dream Team’ He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017. Bird also appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBIs in a game against the New York Yankees. He is the son of Georgia and Claude Joseph \”Joe\” Bird, a veteran of the Korean War. Bird’s parents were of Irish, Scottish and some Native American descent on both sides of his family. He has four brothers and a sister. Bird used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 4 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school’s all-time scoring leader. Bird received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers in 1974.
After less than a month on the Indiana University campus he dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming. He returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute in nearby West Baden, and working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling in Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. He had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33–0 record. For his college career, he averaged 30. 3 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 assists per game, leading thesycamores to an 81–13 record during his tenure. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him \”to this day\”. He was the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the year, Most Valuable Player, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Years, and Executive of The Year. He also won the NBA MVP Award three consecutive times, making him the only forward in league history to do so. Bird won the MVP award for the Celtics three times, and was voted to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, 1998, and 2010. Bird will be placed on an NBA all- time starting five roster with fellow superstars Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 2020. He was also ranked as the greatest Boston Celtics player of alltime by MSN Sports in 2018.
You want to know more about Larry Bird?
This page is based on the article Larry Bird published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 04, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
