How A Garbage Man Became An NBA Legend

Larry was inches away from never achieving anything in basketball because back in the 70s bird was working as a garbage man in French Le Indiana and he never wanted to become an NBA player I thought I'd wind up being a construction worker pouring concrete as far as basketball goes I just wanted to be the best player on my high school team however thanks to some luck and a coach who refused to give up on him along the way the world was able to experience the basketball Genius of Larry Bird Bird would go on to become the best shooter of his era and underrated Defender and one of the greatest rebounders ever at his position all while being one of the best trash Talkers in NBA history he he just shook his head him but he said man it's going to be up night for you Pat Riley once said that if he had to choose a player to take a shot to save a game he'd choose Michael Jordan but if he had to choose a player to take a shot to save his life he'd take Larry Bird this is a story of how a garbage man became an NBA Legend Larry Bird was born in 1956 in West biten Indiana a small town next to French Lick that was a farming town of about 2,000 people Larry was the fourth of six children born into a poor family where his father Joe was a construction worker and his mother Georgia worked in a diner because his father's construction job wasn't stable and because Joe was also an alcoholic the birds struggled to make ends meat they lived in a small house and during cold Winters their Old Furnace would often break down leaving the family freezing due to financial difficulties Larry would often be sent to live with his grandmother in French Lick and being poor weighed on Larry a lot and he always said that poverty was his biggest motivator in life as growing up you don't realize that you don't have anything because you never had it in the first place you know making some money and looking back I remember all of it and I don't want to be like that again but his Saving Grace was playing sports sports was a big part of our lives every day there was never a day we didn't do something whether it was baseball basketball or football his older brothers were pretty good basketball players and they were the reason that Larry picked up the sport and for his comp itiveness on the court younger brothers often make the best ball players children who grow up chasing older siblings play up and it's an advantage when they start playing against kids their own age Larry was about 13 years old 6 feet and 130 lb when his father promised him $20 if he made the freshman team in high school back then $20 to Larry was probably what a million is to him now maybe even more so he kept practicing really hard and to his amazement Larry realized he loved playing ball more than anything else in the world I played when I was cold and my body was aching and I was so tired I don't know why I just kept playing and playing I guess I always wanted to make the most out of it and Larry did make the freshman team albeit only as a benchwarmer since he only played in garbage time minutes as a sophomore he missed most of the year with an ankle injury but that's when he got maybe the biggest Life Lesson from his father I was 13 or 14 maybe and my father came home with an ankle all black and blue and red he needed me and my brother just to get his boot off and he was in in awful pain but the next morning we got the boot back on and he went to work that really made an impression on me we don't know if he broke it or he just heard it but couldn't get his boot on we had to help him get his boot on go to work so to me it been very easy to just say heck with it but he knew he had to go some 20 years later many fans marveled at Larry's ability to play through all types of injuries and it all stemmed from seeing his father going to work despite being barely able to walk and while he was nursing his own ankle injury still on crutches Larry was shooting in the driveway every day hitting 200 shots before school once his foot healed toward the end of his sophomore year the coach unexpectedly put him in the game and that's when all his practice paid off well my confidence came from me shooting basketball by myself for hours up on hours I mean it's not I didn't pick up a ball on a Saturday and decide I was going to score 40 a game I mean that that preparation came way before that with a minute left in the game Larry made the game-winning free throws and for the first time ever his name made the local paper it was after that game that bird started listening and applying everything his coach explained about basketball fundamentals and Larry began practicing these skills to the point of obsession when he returned for his Junior season bird grew to 6'3 with refined dribbling skills and a knack for passing Larry knew that senior teammate Steve land would handle the scoring and that he'd help his team the most by being a passer falling in love with the feeling he received any time he made a pass that led to a bucket but his coach realized that b was only trying to Dish the ball and threatened to glue him to the bench if he didn't start shooting and Larry listened to him becoming the second leading scorer on the team averaging 16 points and nine assists per game at that point bird was a good high school player but not a great one as his Junior season was the first year he played consistent minutes of organized basketball so nobody could even imagine what would happen in Larry's senior year when bird transformed from a solid player to an absolute monster a big part that was his physical growth because over the summer Larry sprouted 4 in and at 6'7 he was now the tallest guy on the team but also the best shooter passer and ball handler bird had also started weightlifting and he came into his senior season at 185 lbs 40 lbs up from his Junior season and in his first game of the season Larry dominated with 27 points 21 rebounds and seven assists in the third game of the season he broke the school's single game scoring record knocking down 4 three points in a loss but after the game Larry had an epiphany realizing he could score any time he wanted to later that year Larry dropped 55 points with 24 rebounds and five assists against coryan and in the last home game of the regular season bird collected 54 points 38 rebounds and eight assists and this was all without a three-point shot for the season Larry averaged 31 points 21 rebounds and four assists per game after which he accepted a scholarship to play for for the famous Indiana hooers and the great Bobby Knight however after Just 4 weeks at Indiana University bird was miserable he didn't have any money he missed his family and felt alienated and overwhelmed by big crowds financially I couldn't stay okay I just couldn't do it so Larry returned home to French Lick where he enrolled at a local community college but he soon gave up on that too and then he became a garbage man in French Lick and was happier than ever I loved that job it was Outdoors you were around your friends picking up brush cleaning up I felt like I was really accomplishing something how many times are you riding around your town and you say to yourself why don't they fix that why don't they clean the streets up and here I had the chance to do that I had the chance to make my community look better and even though he lived a peaceful life tossing garbage bags and fixing benches in the park Larry's family life soon turned into a disaster in 1975 when bird was only 18 years old his father committed suicide and Larry was devastated chose the way he wanted to die and he he did it and uh it's just unfortunately that some people have problems like that but you know I I wish he was here but he's not so I had to go on with my life and try to make the most of my life just like the rest of my family has and that's the way we dealt with it Joe bird was divorced from Larry's mother at that point with his PTSD and alcoholism as the main reason for their separation alimony payments and debts to creditors were mounting and it was getting harder for Joe to find work so he came to the conclusion that his family would be better served through life insurance money Joe then called his ex-wife and told her she didn't need to worry about the debts anymore and then he hung up and took his life growing up Larry was best friends with his father the two spent a lot of time together and his death affected Larry deeply although he felt betrayed by his father's act Larry once again respected his father's sacrifice for his loved ones and that's the same attitude he always brought to the basketball court during that period when he worked as a garbage man Larry got married to a girl he'd known for years but that marriage turned out to be a catastrophe and just when they got divorced he found out that his now ex-wife was pregnant and she prohibited Larry from having anything to do with the baby so between 1975 and 1976 a still teenage Larry Bird quit two colleges lost his dad and suffered through a messy divorce who knows how his life would have turned out if he hadn't been recruited by Bill Hodes then the assistant coach at Indiana State University the young coach knew how good bird was and the two of them formed a relationship through hodges's attempt to get Larry to play ball again however Larry was reluctant due to his failure at Indiana University his job as a garbage man and his complicated family situation but hajes was relentless and one day he went to see bird at his mother's house Larry kept talking about a buddy of his who could really play ball but nobody knew about him because he never went to college to which hajes replied yeah Larry they're going to say that about you someday after that mic drop just got up and left without even saying goodbye and 2 days later he got a call from Larry who decided to join Indiana State which would change his life forever if Bill Hodges hadn't been as persistent as he had been Larry Bird might never have existed in any of our minds I believe that with all my heart in his first season for the sycamores Larry who is now 6'9 immediately proved that he was a basketball genius averaging 33 points 13 rebounds four assists three Steals and a block in 28 games once I started playing it's the same old thing you know he's at a small school and he ain't playing against anybody which is fine still dominated during his second season at Indiana State Bird averaged 30 11 and 4 and was voted a consensus first team All-American Larry intended to return to Indiana State for his senior season and the NBA rules at the time stated that players must spend four years in college to be eligible for the NBA Drft so in 1978 nobody in the NBA was thinking about Larry Bird except except for red arbach the general manager of the Boston Celtics arbach didn't think that he could find a superstar in the 1978 draft and he believed that bird was going to be the first pick in 79 and that the Celtics wouldn't be able to get him then however because bird enrolled at Indiana in 1974 but dropped out only a few weeks into his first semester by technicality he was eligible to get drafted still drafting him was very risky because Larry could reenter the draft after his senior season but our back was willing to gamble and with the six six th pick in the 1978 draft the Celtics picked bird which was a shock to the rest of the NBA I just think that red took a gamble cuz he had the sixth and eighth pick that year he wanted me and why didn't he wait to the eighth pick you know why did he take me the sixth pick but what happened in the 1979 NCAA season was maybe even more shocking bird led the sycamores to an undefeated season and made it all the way to the national championship against Michigan State and their staro guard Magic Johnson Indiana State won 33 games in a row leading to the finals and Bird was especially inspired in the final four against the second seated depal finishing the game with 35 points 16 rebounds and nine assists shooting 16 for 19 from the field however in the national championship game he ran into a better team Michigan state was much more athletic and they kept trapping bird forcing him to take tough shots magic and Michigan State won the title beating Indiana state 75-64 with Larry hitting just seven of 21 shots for 19 points due to the hype created by bird and Magic the 1979 NCAA finals game achieved the highest ever television rating for a college basketball game and with 35 million viewers that record still stands today however after the college season ended bird still had a big decision to make whether to stay with the Celtics or re-enter the draft he first visited Boston on April 6th 1979 where he red hour back and Larry's agent discussed Bird's contract they finally settled on a $650,000 a year deal which made bird the highest paid rookie ever but bird felt no pressure If I fail I fail I failed classes before I know the feeling and when the season started Larry did the furthest thing from failing the Celtics went from a 29 and 53 record in 1979 to 61 and 21 in 1980 and the best record in the NBA and I think it took me probably 3 days after a rookie Camp I I found out this league is nothing I can play in this league and I will dominate this Le with averages of 21. 3 points 10. 4 rebounds 4.

5 assists and 1. 7 steals per game for the season Larry was selected to the All-Star team made the first team all NBA finished fourth in MVP voting and won Rookie of the Year over Magic Johnson but in the Eastern Conference Finals Julius Irving's 76ers proved to be too tough and the Sixers spoiled a championship meeting between bird and magic and then in the 1981 season it was magic who failed to reach the finals against bird with the addition of Kevin mccale and Robert Parish who came in a trade dubbed the steel of the century the Celtics assembled arguably the greatest front Court in NBA history uh the one thing that we did my second year we picked up Robert Parish and Kevin mccale now we didn't know how they was going to fit in but they fit in very nicely and Boston won 62 games in the regular season bird finished runner up for the MVP behind DrJ and in the playoffs the Seas swept Chicago then Avenged the loss to the Sixers in one of the most thrilling series ever with five of seven games decided on the final possession and after they won game seven by one point Boston faced the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals bird didn't have a great shooting series hitting just 42% of his shots and averaging 15 points per game but he also averaged 15 rebounds seven assists and two steals winning his first NBA Championship in just his second season in the league Boston bus have won the World Championship in 1981 Cedric Maxwell was named the finals n P because he averaged more points than Larry but there was no doubt who was the best player on the Celtics after he won the championship in 81 I feel like we had a good enough team where we could start a a Destiny and and win a lot of championships in the next two years Bird's numbers continued to rise and he finished second in MVP voting in both seasons in 1983 he was third in voting for Defensive Player of the Year despite his reputation as a slow-footed unathletic player but even with the Stellar play from bird and the Ascension of Kevin mccale the Celtics regressed losing to the Sixers in the 82 Conference Finals and getting swept by Milwaukie in 83 with a bitter taste of disappointment after that loss coach Fitch resigned and was replaced by Casey Jones an eight-time Champion as a player from the Bill Russell era and with the new coach the addition of a great shooter in Danny a and Stellar defense from a veteran point guard Dennis Johnson the Celtics were on the rise in 1984 bird averaged career highs in scoring Ing and assists with 24. 2 points and 6.

6 dimes per game along with 10 rebounds Larry also led the league in free throw percentage he made the all defense second team and after finishing second in MVP voting for three consecutive years bird was finally named The League MVP in the playoffs bird was playing the best basketball of his career shooting over 50% in every playoff series seamlessly dropping 30-point games and double digit assists after they got past Washington and New York the Celtics dropped the Bucks in five games to avenge the loss from the previous season and make another NBA finals against Birds oldest foe Magic Johnson playing against magic yeah that that was uh something that I always dreamed about since he beat us in college in a hard-fought series it took seven games to decide a winner and in the final game of the season both teams struggled with their shot including Larry and Magic I can remember I didn't we didn't shoot the ball extremely well but we we played hard we got all the loose balls we did the things that was necessary for us to win but the Celtics were more poised down the stretch winning 111 to 102 to secure another championship parade in Boston and with 27 points 14 rebounds four assists and two steals per game bird was named the finals MVP in The Following Season bird was again named League MVP and the Celtics faced the Lakers in the finals once more but this time it was magic and the Lakers who came out on top with Kareem winning the finals MVP for the 8 six season the Celtics traded Cedric Maxwell for Bill Walton a former MVP Center who was struggling to stay healthy but the gamble paid off and Walton shined in his role as a sixthman as the Celtics played one of the best seasons in franchise history they finished with 67 wins and 15 losses and including the playoffs they lost just one game in the Boston Garden going 50 And1 at home for the season Larry was at his absolute basketball Peak averaging 26 10 and 7 with two Steals and near 50 4090 shooting during a long regular season Larry would often get bored and had to find extra challenges to motivate himself and before a game against Portland in February bird surprised his teammates and journalists by saying that he would play the whole game with his left hand and despite barely touching the ball with his right Larry finished with 47 points 14 rebounds and 11 assists including a game tying shot in regulation and a game winner in overtime if I remember the game correct they were forced me left to help and they wasn't getting there quick enough so I could I had shots around 5 six foot with my left hand I felt more com my left hand there I did my right then once I got started making a few I just kept going it was one of the greatest games of his career on par with his career-high 60 points from the 1985 season against Atlanta Larry was hitting jumpers left and right from impossible angles getting into such a zone that the Hawks bench even jumped out of their chairs and cheered for him which got them fined by their coach the announcer let me know every time I scored so you go 48 50 52 and when it got to that with like 3 or four minutes to go I thought might as well go ahead and try to get 60 and that's what I did then in 1986 bird received 73 out of 78 first place votes for the MVP award becoming just the third player to win MVP three years in a row only two other players won the regular season MVP award three consecutive times as bird did Bill Russell and will Chamberlain and in the 1986 playoffs the Celtics steamrolled through the East sweeping Jordan and the Bulls defeating Dominique and the Hawks in five and then swept the Bucks to reach their third straight NBA finals this time against the Houston Rockets and while the Houston Twin Towers of Ralph Samson and hakee aluan provided a bigger challenge for the Celtics there was nobody who could stop Larry with 24 points 9. 7 rebounds and 9. 5 assists Larry was two rebounds and three assists shot from averaging a triple double in the finals winning another Finals MVP as the Celtics won the title in six games in 1987 bird became the first player to shoot 50 40 90 for the season averaging 28 points nine rebounds and eight assists per game but while Larry was still on top the Celtics regressed before the season their number two overall pick Len Bas tragically passed away after the draft and they suffered many injuries during the season and the playoffs I was the healthiest one on the on the rock roster that's not saying much uh I felt pretty good I know Robert had ankle injuries and Kevin Kevin broke his foot Danny had a hip problem and just to get to the finals made us feel good still they had Larry who pushed the Seas to their fourth consecutive finals after one of the most legendary moments of his career when he stole the ball from Isaiah Thomas in game five of the Eastern finals and it was like in slow motion it was like the ball like goes up in the air I didn't even see him now there's a St Viper on the and in the finals once again it was Boston versus LA for the third time in 4 years but this time the Lakers were healthier and better rested and the Celtics didn't have enough gas in the tank to stop the fast-paced showtime bird delivered another 2410 and five for the series but it wasn't good enough as magic got the best of him once again the next year bird had the best statistical season of his career he averaged 30 points 9 rebounds and six assists again shooting 50 4090 for the season and proving that he was the best shooter who ever played at the time unfortunately for Larry and the Celtics they lost in the Conference finals against Detroit and the 1988 season proved to be the last Harrah for the Celtics big three of bird male and Parish in terms of contending for a title bird missed almost the entire 1989 season due to a persisting back injury and multiple surgeries to remove bone spurs from his ankles he originally injured his back in the 85 off season after deciding to build the driveway of his mother's home himself Larry decides to do it himself this is Larry Bird the Superstar out there breaking his back literally shoveling gravel he spent all day shoveling gravel and ended up hurting his back and causing his spine to get misaligned he had lost the structural stability in his spine so it would slip into abnormal positions to try and lock itself to get an artificial stability that's like getting your fingers stuck in the door and somebody's still pushing on the door bird was a millionaire and he could have easily paid someone else to do it but Larry enjoyed manual labor and he wanted to help his mother with his own hands and paying people for something he could do himself simply wasn't Larry's style I really don't need anyone to build my ego when I'm home in Boston I want to go out and eat pay my bill and get the hell out back in French Leck I don't have those problems and that's why I go back there it's the same with nice cars Mercedes and all that I can't see putting 50 or $60,000 into a car when our house growing up was worth $10,000 I just can't buy that and clothes never did catch my eye I never really enjoyed him I always wore what I felt comfortable in I'll wear pretty much anything if I get it for free and because of his back injury Larry probably should have retired in ' 88 but that memory of when he was 14 years old and his father went to work with a foot that was 50 shades of purple stuck with him and Larry kept playing through the pain but to me you know I I'm just so glad I got the NBA and May made it I didn't want some little injury messing up my whole season so I try to play through a lot of them from 1988 onward bird had to have his spine realigned before games just to be able to participate the injury was so severe that he often had to lie down for hours at a time either between games or sometimes even during games spending up to 4 hours a day stretching and even though he could barely walk Larry still averaged 219 and 7even in the last three seasons of his career they called him Larry the legend because of his dominance on the court the extreme confidence he exuded and the trash talking he served on a daily basis going into the locker room during the three-point shooting contest and asking other participants which one of you is going to come in second everybody's looking at me I go who's coming in second and nobody said a word I thought maybe thought I was joking but maybe they thought I was serious but well then I had to go out and win it truthfully I meant it I mean I knew I was probably going to win a contest and then defeating them without ever taking off his jacket legendary telling players that he was going to get the ball how many dribbles he was going to take and then doing exactly that sinking a jumper in their face legendary every time he was about to make a move he told him what he was going to do one dribble pull up going left off glass and did you know bird played the entirety of his career with a dislocated finger his right index finger got badly hurt during his last season at Indiana State but like always Larry just pulled the finger put it back in place and kept playing through the pain bird had to slightly change his shooting stroke because of that finger and he swears he was a better shooter in college than in the NBA and the numbers support this Theory as he shot 53% in college compared to 49.