On this day in Boston Celtics history, iconic Boston small forward Larry Joe Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana in 1956. Widely considered to be among the greatest to ever play the game, Bird would briefly attend Indiana University under iconic coach Bob Knight before eventually landing at Indiana State University in 1975.
That unusual quirk of a path would later make it possible for Boston Celtics managerial legend Red Auerbach to draft the Indiana native while he was still in college due to a technicality. He would play his full three seasons of eligibility with the Sycamores first, famously carrying them to the NCAA title game against lifelong rival and friend Magic Johnson’s Michigan State squad, who eventually won the game.
After being drafted by Boston with the sixth overall pick of the draft, Bird managed to extract a record five-year, $3.25 million contract for his services.
On this day of Larry Bird’s birth, I give you his first game: #Celtics
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) December 7, 2020
His impact was evident immediately, adding 32 wins to the previous season’s total in his rookie season while getting both NBA All-Rookie Team and Rookie of the Year nods in his inaugural campaign.
The Hick from French Lick — as he is often called — made his first All-Star and All-NBA teams in 1980 as well, the first of a dozen for the former and ten of the latter.
With the later additions of big men Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to the team via the draft and a trade respectively, Bird would help the team to a title in 1981, his first.
Another would follow in 1984, along with three consecutive league Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, as well as his first of two Finals MVPs (the other coming with his last title in 1986).
Bird would win countless other honors over the course of his legendary career with the franchise, playing 13 seasons with the Celtics, the only club he would ever play for.
Larry Legend averaged 24.3 points, 10 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while with Boston, a Hall of Famer if ever there was one. To that, he was elected two times — once as a player in 1998, and again as a member of the 1992 US Olympic ‘Dream Team’ in 2010.
. @UHCougarMBK in first round of #NBADraft
Gary Phillips selected No. 9 overall by @celtics in 1961. pic.twitter.com/ui1TsTvDfr— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) June 20, 2019
Bird shares that birthday with guard Gary Philips, born this day in 1939 in Quincy, Illinois.
Phillips played his college ball at the University of Houston and was Boston’s ninth overall pick of the 1961 NBA draft.
Gene: Gary PHILLIPS retour en 13 jours champion avec les celtics en… https://t.co/QM9exMcDPR #Autographs #bball pic.twitter.com/42Fy2qQ7sN
— Sports Autographes (@SportsUSAutos) January 19, 2016
The Illinois native played just one season for the Celtics, his rights sold to the (then) San Francisco Warriors (now, Golden State) at the end of his inaugural season in the league.
He won a title in a reserve role and averaged 4 points, 1.6 rebounds, and an assist per game over that stretch.
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