Larry Bird
Athlete
Inducted: July 5, 1995
13th Annual Induction Ceremony
Portland, Oregon
(The following appeared in that year’s HOF induction program)
Larry Bird also joins the National High School Sports Hall of Fame this year, but because of previous commitments the past two years, he could not be in attendance.
Bird was one of the top basketball players in the state of Indiana and the nation in his senior season at Springs Valley High School in French Lick, Indiana. He scored 764 points in 25 games for a 30.6 average with 516 rebounds and 107 assists. He scored 353 points for a 16.0 average as a junior for an overall high school career average of 22.9.
After originally enrolling at Indiana University, Bird left IU and later enrolled at Indiana State University, where he had a phenomenal college career, ending with leading the Sycamores to the NCAA championship game in 1979. Bird averaged 30.3 points per game in his three years at Indiana State and left the school as the fifth-leading scorer in NCAA history. He was voted college player of the year as a senior at ISU.
Bird then played 13 years with the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association, helping the Celtics to three NBA titles. He was selected NBA rookie of the year in 1980, made the all-NBA first team nine times and was chosen most valuable player three consecutive years in the mid-1980s.
Bird finished his 13-year career with 21,791 points and a 24.3 scoring average, good for 13th on the all-time scoring list in NBA history. He was a career 5O-percent field-goal shooter and had a 88.6 lifetime mark from the free-throw line.
The conclusion of Bird's career came in the summer of 1992 as a member of the U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" in Barcelona.
Today, Bird is still employed by the Celtics as a vice-president.
