Draft night is as much about missed opportunities as it is focused on star-making beginnings. And for some, the frustration of making the wrong decision never fully fades away.
Such is the case of Nancy Leonard, who shared her perspective of how her Pacers passed on drafting future Hall of Famer and Indiana native Larry Bird in 1978. Leonard, who was an assistant general manager for the team at the time, told Dana Hunsinger Benbow of USA TODAY that she and her husband—head coach and GM Bobby “Slick” Leonard—were convinced that Bird was the right choice and that the ultimate decision to pass on Bird still haunts her.
“It was a disaster,” Nancy, now 90, said. “I will never forget one second of that draft and this is something I haven’t really talked publicly about.”
The Pacers held the No. 1 overall pick in ’78, but eventually traded down to No. 3. With Bird still available, the team instead chose Kentucky’s Rick Robey. According to Leonard, she and her husband were sold that Bird was the right choice, but she was rebuffed when sharing this information with the franchise’s eight board members, several of which Leonard said “had never held a basketball in their hands in their lives.”
Leonard says the board’s resistance came down to a belief that the team would not be able to afford Bird.
“We’ll never be able to get the money and we’ll lose him,” Leonard said of the board’s response. At the time of the draft, Bird was already committed to returning to Indiana State for his senior season, though was still eligible to be picked and have his rights retained for one year.
Leonard’s attempts to sell the board on the financial benefit of having a well-known local hero as part of the franchise’s future fell on deaf ears.
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“I couldn’t make them see how valuable he was,” Leonard said. “We could have had a wonderful gold coin in the palm of our hands … They were panicked.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Bird fell to the Celtics at No. 6, and became one of the greatest players in league history, leading Boston to three NBA titles.
Bird eventually did end up with the Pacers, though as a head coach and executive after his playing days were over. He guided the team to the NBA Finals in 2000, his final on the sidelines, before becoming Indiana’s president of basketball operations in ’03. He was named the league’s Coach of the Year in ’98 and Executive of the Year in ’12.
Despite the eventual reunion, though, the sting of missing out on a franchise-altering decision remains with Leonard all these years later.
“Bird was at the draft, oh my gosh, he was right there for us to take,” Leonard said. “And I have to live with that.”
