The 1978 Kentucky Wildcats, led by all-time greats Jack Givens, Rick Robey, and Kyle Macy in the starting lineup, will always have a special place in the hearts of Blue Blue Nation as they won the school’s fifth NCAA championship.
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Though he always dreamed of being a Wildcat, what Kentucky fans might not realize is just how close basketball superstar Larry Bird came to being on the team that year.
After graduating from French Lick, Indiana’s Springs Valley High School, Bird signed with Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers and averaged 31 points, 21 rebounds, and 4 assists per game as a senior. He later transferred to Indiana State University, where he won the 1979 Naismith Player of the Year award. However, Bird, who was up only 150 miles away from Lexington, patiently awaited an offer from Hall, the great coach Adolph Rupp’s replacement in 1972.
According to Bird, “Coach Joe Hall of Kentucky came to see me but told me I was too slow,” in a March 26, 1979 story. Kentucky’s capture of the national championship the previous year is evidence that he had a wealth of excellent players. But I didn’t think I moved too slowly.
After playing with the Boston Celtics for twelve seasons, Bird won three consecutive MVP Awards (1984–1986), and in 1998, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The claim was later corroborated by James Jones, Bird’s high school, in an interview with Bird and reporter Jackie MacMullan.
The University of Kentucky piqued curiosity as well, and this is where Larry truly excelled. If he had chosen a university, I believed it would have been early Kentucky. Coach Joe B. Hall was with us in Brownstown, one of our competitors. I walked up to him and asked, “How would you rate Larry?” “He’s too slow to play at Kentucky,” he remarked. However, Kentucky was not too bad. However this allowed Larry to remain in the state.
Bird led Indiana State, which was one year away from becoming the nation’s most successful team with a 33-0 record, to an average of 30 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in 1977–1978. Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans defeated Indiana State to win the 1979 NCAA title.
