Larry Bird

Larry Joe Bird was born on december 7, 1956 in West Baden Springs, Indiana. His parents Joe and Georgia were a working class couple. Larry was raised in French Lick. Bird exceled at
Like the state he hailed from, Indiana, the name Larry Bird is virtually synonymous with the game of basketball. He was born Larry Joe Bird on December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana. His parents, Joe and Georgia , were a working class couple who raised Larry in the nearby town of French Lick. Although his family faced economic hardship throughout his childhood, Larry began to excel at basketball at an early age.
Larry attended Springs Valley High School in French Lick, where he starred on the basketball team, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer by the time he graduated in 1974.

Larry attended Indiana State University, where he helped bring around the basketball program and led the team to a 33–1 record in his senior season. That season finished with a loss to Michigan State University in the NCAA championship game in 1979. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics after his junior year at Indiana State in 1978  but did not play professionally until the 1979–1980 season. Bird was the first college player to be drafted by an NBA team that was not a senior.

Over the course of his 13 seasons with the Celtics, he cemented his legacy as one of the greatest players in NBA history. In his rookie year he won the Rookie of the Year award after contributing to one of the largest single-season improvement in NBA history (a 32-win improvement). Bird was a 12-time All Star and won three consecutive league Most Valuable Player awards (1984–86). Larry Bird led the Boston Celtics to three National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (1981, 1984, and 1986) and is considered one of the greatest pure shooters of all time. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Bird retired in 1993 and moved to a front-office position with the Celtics. He became the head coach of the Indiana Pacers despite having no previous coaching experience.  In 1997 he was named Coach of the Year after his first season. Bird resigned in 2000 and became the Pacers' president of basketball operations in 2003.