Larry Bird is a former professional basketball player who played for the Boston Celtics throughout his career before retiring to become a coach and later president of the Indiana Pacers basketball division.
The three-time NBA champion also received international awards with the men’s basketball team of the United States. He is celebrated as the only person to be named Rookie of the Year, MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year in the National Basketball Association.
Larry Bird Biography and Career Attainments
The bird was born as one of six children of Georgia (née Kerns) and Claude Joseph Bird on December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana. His father was a war veteran from the Korean War, while his mother worked two jobs simultaneously to support her family.
Bird attended Spring Valley High School, where he was a star player who showed promising talent. During his time there, his parents divorced and about a year later, his father committed suicide. While all other personal family problems tried to derail his ambition to play in the NBA, Bird found comfort in this sport and graduated from high school as the best player of all time, averaging 31 points per game.
Like any other promising high school athlete, Larry Bird was offered scholarships to attend several schools in 1974. He chose Indiana University to play for the Hoosiers but dropped out after a month because he found it difficult to adjust to his new environment. He returned home and enrolled at the Northwood Institute in Wiesbaden, where he also had city jobs to make ends meet.
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After spending a year in Northwood, Bird transferred to Indiana State University in Terre Haute, where he rediscovered his love of basketball by playing for the Sycamores. During his three-year college basketball career, Bird averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. He helped his team reach the final of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 1979. Although he lost the final against the state of Michigan, led by a certain Magic Johnson, Larry Bird still received praise and awards, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award.
The bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall selection in the 1978 NBA Draft but chose to play another college basketball season to win the NCAA title. In 1979, when he was ready to begin his professional career, Bird signed a five-year contract for $3.25 million, which was the highest amount paid to a junior player at the time. Celtics management’s gamble paid off, as the player soon transformed the team into contenders for the title, even though they were eventually beaten in the Eastern Conference final. On a personal note, Bird was named NBA Rookie of the Year and made the All-Star Team.
After several new acquisitions by the Celtics, the team was able to win a championship in the 1980-81 season. Larry Bird continued his meteoric rise in the league, cementing him as one of the greatest players of all time. Among many other honors, he managed to win three NBA championships, three MVP awards, and twelve NBA All-Star appearances.
Larry Bird Wife/Girlfriend and Children
Larry Bird is currently married to Dinah Bird (née Mattingly), who was born on November 16, 1954. The couple married in 1989 after his first marriage ended with Janet Condra, his high school sweetheart. Larry and Dinah knew each other since his college days, as they were both students at Indiana State University.
Together the couple adopted two children, Conner and Mariah. Bird has an older biological daughter named Corrie from his first marriage.
Conner was in the news after he allegedly tried to run over his ex-girlfriend with his car on the campus of Indiana State University. He was arrested immediately and after he pleaded guilty to the charges, his sentence was suspended and he was released. Mariah, on the other hand, was in the news after a publication falsely mistook her for Bird’s girlfriend.
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Is He Broke, Where Is He Now?
Larry Bird is definitely not broke unless being broke means having an estimated net worth of around $55 million. After leaving the game, Bird took a position as a special assistant in the Celtics front office, a position he held until 1997 when he took over as head coach at the Indiana Pacers.
He then held various positions with the franchise, first as head coach, then twice as president of the basketball operation, before finally stepping down in 2017 to take on an advisory role.
Height, Weight, and Other Facts
Birth Name: Larry Joe Bird
Date of Birth: December 7, 1956
Place of Birth: West Baden Springs, Indiana
Height: 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 m)
Weight: 100 kg (220 lb)
