Larry Bird Biography

Larry Joe Bird was born on December 7, 1956, and is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association. Nicknamed the Hick from French Lick and Larry Legend, Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Selected by the Boston Celtics as the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Bird chose to remain in college for the 1978–79 season. He made his NBA debut in the 1979–80 season, leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the prior year. Bird earned 12 NBA All-Star selections, won two NBA Finals MVP awards, and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three times in a row from 1984 to 1986. He competed on the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, known as the Dream Team. Bird was named to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players list in 1996 and later selected for the 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.