Larry Bird Essay

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Larry Joe Bird was born on December 7, 1956 by Georgia and Claude Joseph “Joe” Bird in West Baden, Indianapolis. He is a retired NBA athlete, coach, and currently is the President for the Indiana Pacers. Larry Bird is a 3x NBA champion. He also received the awards for NBA finals MVP, two times, and been the NBA Most Valuable Player three times now. He also received many more awards. Larry Bird is married and has three children. He is currently married to Dinah Mattingly and they married in 1989. Out of his three children two are adopted, Connor and Mariah, and Larry Bird has a biological daughter from his first marriage, Corrie. Bird has four brothers also, Mike, Mark, Jeff, and Eddie. He also has a sister named Linda. Larry Bird co-owned a …show more content…

Bird accepted the scholarship but dropped out after less than a month there because the population difference between his small hometown, French Lick, and the students in Bloomington is overwhelming. When he returned back to his hometown he enrolled in a small community college. In 1975, Larry Bird enrolled into Indiana State University. In 1979, Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores reached the NCAA tournament for the first time ever in Indiana State history. Indiana State lost the game 75-64. Larry Bird only had a 33.3% shooting rate, only making 7 out of his 21 shots. Even though the Sycamores lost the NCAA championship against Michigan State, Larry Bird earned a lot of year-end awards and honors including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. Larry Bird averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. This lead Indiana State to an 81-13 record. In 1977 Larry Bird participated in the 1977 Summer Universiade, but some call it the IX Summer Universiade, which took place in Sofia, …show more content…

Larry Bird did not sign immediately, what he did was finish his final season with Indiana State before signing a 5 year $3.25 million dollar contract with the Boston Celtics. This made Bird the rookie to receive the highest contract deal in the NBA in the league’s history at the time. Shortly after he was drafted, a new NBA draft rule occurred called the ‘Bird Collegiate Rule’ which prevented teams from drafting players before they were ready to be drafted. Later in 1978, Larry Bird participated in the men’s basketball event called the ‘World Invitational

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