From French Lick to Boston: Larry Bird's Rise
Larry Bird was born in 1956 in French Lick, a small Indiana town, to a modest family. The town loved basketball, and Bird built solid fundamentals and an obsessive will to win on humble courts.
In college, Bird briefly attended Indiana University, then returned to Indiana State (ISU). In 1979 he led the unknown ISU to the NCAA final; though they lost to Magic Johnson's Michigan State, the nation remembered the white forward. That year the Celtics drafted him third overall.
In the NBA, Bird quickly returned Boston to contention. With Robert Parish and Kevin McHale he formed the famed "frontcourt trio," rivaling the Lakers through the 80s. An All-Star as a rookie in 1979-80, he won a ring the next year, launching the "Larry Legend" era.
From a French Lick kid to Boston's championship core, Bird's rise inspired countless ordinary kids: in basketball, hometown and skin color are never the ceiling — effort and mind are.
