LARRY BIRD


Born;
December 7, 1956
West Baden, IN

Enshrined;
October 2, 1998



NBA Rookie of the Year (1980)

NBA Most Valuable Player (1984-86)

All-NBA First Team (1980-88)

All-NBA Second Team (1990)

NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1982-84)

Twelve-time NBA All-Star (1980-88, 1990-92)

NBA All-Star Game MVP (1982)

Long Distance Shootout Winner (1986-88)

NBA Finals MVP (1984, 1986)

Scored 21,791 points (24.3 ppg) in 897 professional games, including a career-high 28.1 ppg in 1987

Scored a career and team-high 60 points against the Atlanta Hawks in New Orleans on March 25, 1985

Led the NBA in free throw shooting (1984, 1986, 1990)

NBA championships with the Boston Celtics (1981, 1984, 1986)

In a 12-year time span, Bird teamed with Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to form one of the greatest frontlines in professional basketball history

The trio compiled a 690-276 record, won nine Atlantic Division titles and five Eastern Conference championships

NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996)

Member of gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic Team (1992)

Named Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations on July 11, 2003

Pro Coaching:

NBA Indiana Pacers (1997-2000), 147-67 (.687)

NBA Coach of the Year (1998) following an 58-24 season

Led Pacers to the 2000 NBA's, first such appearance in team history



In a storybook career that began in the small Indiana town of West Baden, where he led Springs Valley High School to the state sectional championship, and concluded with his number 33 jersey being retired by the Boston Celtics, Larry Bird enjoyed a legendary 13-year professional career with the Celtics. In 1979, when Bird joined the Celtics, he launched an era both in Boston and throughout the NBA that may never again be duplicated. At a time when the league and the Celtics needed a boost, Bird and fellow rookie sensation Earvin "Magic" Johnson provided the spark. By the time Bird retired in 1992, he held or shared 27 Celtics' records and had brought three more NBA championship banners to Boston in 1981, 1984 and 1986. On two other occasions (1985 and 1987), the Celtics reached the NBA Finals.

A 12-time NBA All-Star and MVP of the 1982 All-Star Game, Bird was selected as the sixth overall pick in the 1978 draft. Following the draft, Bird returned to the college ranks for his senior season and completed a memorable career at Indiana State. Bird, who won the Sporting News, Naismith and Wooden awards as national college Player of the Year in 1979, led ISU to an 81-13 three-year record, including a 33-1 mark in 1979, the year Bird's Indiana State team lost to Johnson's Michigan State squad in the national championship game. Bird holds 30 ISU records, including most points (2,850), steals (240) and rebounds (1,247). He scored in double figures in 93 of 94 games, tallied 40 or more points 15 times and recorded six triple doubles.

Prior to Bird's arrival in Boston in 1979, the Celtics had failed to make the playoffs for two straight seasons. His first season, Bird was named NBA Rookie of the Year and the Celtics advanced to the conference finals, the start of 13 straight postseason appearances. In Bird's 13 seasons, Boston won 10 Atlantic Division titles, had six 60-plus-win seasons and toppled the 50-win mark 12 times.






QUOTES

"First master the fundamentals."

"It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer."

"Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got. Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players."

"Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around. If I don't keep changing. I'm history."

"When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro."

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals."

"Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds."

"I always know what's happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond."

"I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end."

"I really don't like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it."

"I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me."








February 4, 1993