Larry Bird Biography
Larry Bird is a former professional National Basketball Association (NBA) player. After retiring as a player on August 18, 1992, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was also named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013, and remained in that role until 2017 to assume an advisory role for the franchise.
Larry Bird Age
How old is Larry Bird? Larry is 66 years old. He was born on December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana, United States.
Larry Bird Height
He is 6 feet 9 inches tall (approximately 2.06m or 206cm).
Larry Bird Nationality
Born and raised in the United States, Larry is American by nationality.
Larry Bird Education
Bird graduated from Springs Valley High School in 1974. The same year, he received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers under head coach Bob Knight. After less than a month on the Indiana University campus, he dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming.
Bird returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute (now Northwood University) in nearby West Baden, and working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. While there, he had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33–0 record where they played the 1979 championship game against Michigan State. Indiana State lost the game 75–64, with Bird scoring 19 points but making only 7 of 21 shots. In 1979, Bird graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education.
Larry Bird Parents
Larry was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana and he is the son of Georgia (née Kerns) and Claude Joseph “Joe” Bird, a veteran of the Korean War. His parents were of Irish, Scottish, and Native American descent. Larry has five siblings; four brothers and a sister. He was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support him and his five siblings.
Larry’s parents divorced when he was in high school, and his father Joe died by suicide about a year later. Larry used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 4 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school’s all-time scoring leader. His youngest brother, Eddie Bird, also played basketball at Indiana State University.
Larry Bird Wife
Who is Larry Bird’s wife? Larry is married to Dinah Mattingly. He married his wife Dinah in 1989. The couple have two adopted children, Conner and Mariah. Previously, Larry was married to Janet Condra. He married her in 1975 and they remained married for less than a year. Following an attempted reconciliation, Larry and Janet had a daughter, Corrie, in 1977.
During his professional career with the Celtics, Larry lived in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts.
Larry Bird Career
Bird is a former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed “the Hick from French Lick” and “Larry Legend”, Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, Bird was a local basketball star. Highly recruited, he initially signed to play college basketball for coach Bob Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers, but dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick to attend a local community college. The next year he attended the smaller Indiana State University, ultimately playing three years for the Sycamores. Drafted by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft after his second year at Indiana State, Bird elected to stay in college and returned for the 1978–1979 season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season. The season finished with a national championship game match-up of Indiana State against Michigan State and featured a highly anticipated match-up of Bird against Michigan State great Magic Johnson, thus beginning a career-long rivalry that the two shared for over a decade.
Bird entered the NBA for the 1979–1980 season, where he made an immediate impact, starting at power forward and leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season before being eliminated from the playoffs in the conference finals. He played for the Celtics during his entire professional career (13 seasons), leading them to five NBA finals appearances and three NBA championships. He played most of his career with forward Kevin McHale and center Robert Parish, considered by some to be the greatest frontcourt in NBA history.
Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star, won two NBA Finals MVP awards, and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986), making him the only forward in league history to do so. He was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, known as the “Dream Team”. Bird was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice as a player—first in 1998 as an individual, and again in 2010 as a member of the “Dream Team”. He was also voted on the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list in 1996, and consequently the 75th Anniversary Team list in 2021.
A versatile player at both forward positions, he could play both inside and outside, being one of the first players in the league to take advantage of the newly adopted three-point line. Bird was rated the greatest NBA small forward of all time by Fox Sports in 2016. After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997–1998 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was also named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013, and remained in that role until 2017.
Larry Bird Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $75 million as of 2023.
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