The legendary Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics will soon have his own museum in his native Indiana, brimming with amazing artifacts from a career that most hoopers could only dream of being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Of course, there will be a celebration, but on December 7th, there’s an annual party for the all-time great.
Everyone has a tale about Larry Legend, from his great trash talk to his smooth shooting stroke. Additionally, NBA fans around commemorate the basketball legend on his birthday one day a year. Unbelievably, Larry Bird is 62 years old now.
The 6-foot-9 forward, a well-known native of French Lick, Indiana, was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana. He excelled at Springs Valley High School before going on to become a two-time Consensus First-Time All-American at Indiana State, where he helped the Sycamores make it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. One of his highlights was the 1979 Final Four national championship game against rival Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans.
Despite still just a junior, Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, after winning the 1979 Naismith College Player of the Year award and making Indiana State famous.
Well, the rest is history. Bird’s career is on par with those of the best basketball players in history. In addition to being an NBA champion three times, he also won two NBA Finals MVP awards, three NBA MVP awards, twelve NBA All-Star selections, three NBA 3-point Shootout titles, and NBA Rookie of the Year. That’s not all on his impressive résumé.
But on March 12, 1985, in one of those NBA MVP seasons—his second consecutive triumph in a 1984–85 season framed by two championships—Bird scored a career-high 60 points against Dominique Wilkins and the Atlanta Hawks.
That evening, Larry Legend was ecstatic as he eclipsed the Boston Celtics’ single-game scoring record of 56 points, which had been held by colleague Kevin McHale for just nine days.
Put away all of his amazing triple-double performances for a later date. Discard any performance from an NBA All-Star Game as well. The things he did to the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, to Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers, to the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, and all other teams should not even concern you.
This was possibly Bird’s greatest performance ever, despite all of his other renowned performances.
