he starred on the school’ s basketball team, becoming the school’ s all-time scorer before he graduated!
Since he became the all-time scorer on his basketball team, Larry Bird had earned an athletic scholarship to the University of Indiana, the team he will be on for college basketball under the legendary coach, Bob Knight. Larry had to make a big decision either go to Indiana or wait until another college interests him. Unfortunately, Bird decided to enroll and go to Indiana State. When it was his first year playing on Indiana State’ s basketball team, Bird led them to the championship game. They were playing against Michigan State led by there star player, Magic Johnson. It is the first time these legends played each other, but it wouldn’ t be their last. When it was the end of his first season, Indiana State finished with a record of 33-1, which means they got 33 wins and only 1 loss. Larry Bird ended up getting 3 awards in that one season! Those awards are Player of the Year, Naismith Award, and the Wooden Award. Surprisingly, he averaged 30.3 points per game.
In 1979, after his college years, Mr. Bird got welcomed by the Boston Celtics in the number 1 draft pick!! That means, he got chosen first out of the entire draft!!! He went to the Boston Celtics manager, and got a record of $ 65,000 a year!!! After Larry played a few games with the Boston Celtics, the Celtics became one of the two dominate teams in the NBA!! The other dominant team is
the Los Angeles Lakers, led by their star player, Magic Johnson. In the 1983-84 Finals, Larry Bird faced Magic Johnson. Turns out, Larry Bird had defeated Magic Johnson yet again, with the score of 111-102. After Larry defeated Magic, he decided to retire. The players, coaches, and fans were very disappointed. When he retired, people called him,“ The Hick from French Lick.” They called him this because he grew up in a town called French Lick.
Also, his stats are remarkable. He scored 21,791 points in his career! On the other hand, Michael Jordan got 32,292 points in his career! He also got 5,695 assists! He got 2,000 and-ones. He has a field goal percentage of. 496! This means that 8,591 of his shots went in. An average player has about 40 %. Finally, he got 755 blocks and 1,556 steals! Unfortunately, he retired in 1992, which means no more Larry Bird. He retired because he has a wife and two children he wants to spend more time with. Before NBA he decided to do college basketball at his college which University of Indiana State. Michael Jordan went there and played basketball for that college. Then Larry Bird tried out for NBA in 1979, because people and himself believe he is good enough.
How my view has changed....
Before my research, I thought he was just a plain basketball player. I thought this because I’ ve heard rumors that he is just a basketball player. That’ s why I
researched him for this project. To find out if he is just a basketball player. Or is Larry Bird something else? After my research, I figured out who he really is. Turns out, he was a basketball