Bird, Larry (1956—)
Born in 1956 and raised in rural Indiana—a place where basketball has been popular as a spectator sport since the 1910s and 1920s, well before the establishment of successful professional leagues in the 1940s—Larry Bird emerged as one of the premiere sports superstars of the 1980s, as well as one of the most marketable athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Often credited with helping to revive a then-troubled league—along with Earvin "Magic" John-son—Bird's discipline, unselfish playing style, and enthusiasm for the game made him a hero to basketball fans around the world and a driving force in the NBA's growth.
Bird attained celebrity early in his career; four thousand people, twice the population of his hometown of French Lick, Indiana, attended his final high school game there in 1974. After a short stint at Indiana University, Bird left to play for the Indiana State Sycamores in 1975. During his college career, season ticket sales for the formerly-lagging Sycamores tripled. His college years culminated in a host of honors for Bird, who finished college as the fifth highest scorer in college basketball history. He was named the College Player of the Year (1978-1979), and led his team to a number one ranking and the national championship game. This game, which the Sycamores lost to Earvin "Magic" Johnson's Michigan State team, marked the beginning of the Bird-Johnson rivalry that would electrify professional basketball for the next 12 years.
Originally drafted by the Boston Celtics while he was still in college, Bird joined the team in the 1979-1980 season and proceeded to lead it to one of the most dramatic single-season turnarounds in league history. The year before his NBA debut, the Celtics had won only 29 games and did not qualify for the league playoffs; the 1979-1980 team won 61 games and finished at the top of the Atlantic Division. Bird's accomplishments as a player are remarkable: he was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1984, 1985, and 1986; he played on the Eastern Conference All-Star team for 12 of his 13 pro seasons; he led his team to NBA Championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986; and he won a gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as a member of the "Dream Team" (an elite group that also featured his rival, Johnson, as well as Michael Jordan and other superstar players). Hobbled by back injuries and absent from many games in his last two seasons, Bird retired from basketball in 1992. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame on October 2, 1998.
Contributing to the growing prosperity of the NBA in the 1980s and to its emergence as a popular and profitable segment of the entertainment industry were several factors, not least of which were the marketing efforts of league commissioner David Stern. The league used the appeal of its top stars—especially Bird, Johnson, and Jordan—to market itself to fans. Another factor in the league's growth was the fan interest triggered by the intense rivalry between the league's top two teams, the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, which happened to be led by the league's top two players, Bird and Johnson. The Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals three times in the mid-1980s, the excitement of their rivalry being amplified by the charisma of Bird and Johnson; the historic competition between the two teams in the 1960s; and the contrast between their two fundamentally different styles of basketball—East Coast fundamentals vs. West Coast razzle-dazzle.
As Bird and Johnson became the league's brightest stars and as their teams won championships, they helped the NBA to embark on a new era of soaring attendance, sold-out games, escalating salaries, and lucrative television and sponsorship deals in which the players themselves became heavily marketed international celebrities. Increasing both his own income and his stake with fans, Bird appeared in television commercials for several companies, most prominently McDonalds and Converse Shoes.
In order to allow the Celtics and Lakers to keep Bird and Johnson on their teams, the NBA restructured itself economically in 1984, passing an exception to its salary-cap rules that would become known as the "Larry Bird Exception." This move allowed teams to re-sign their star players at exorbitant costs, regardless of the team's salary limit, and led to skyrocketing player salaries in the late 1980s and 1990s.
In 1997, Bird was hired as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. In his first year of coaching, Bird had an effect on his team that recalled his impact as a player nearly two decades earlier. Whereas in 1996 the Pacers had won only 39 games, in 1997 they won 58 and competed in the Eastern Conference championship series against Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. At the season's conclusion, Bird was named NBA Coach of the Year.
In the sometimes racially-charged world of professional athletics, Bird's position as a prominent white player garnered much commentary. "[Bird is] a white superstar," Johnson said of his rival in a 1979 interview in Sports Illustrated. "Basketball sure needs him." Early in its history, professional basketball had attracted few African American players (due both to societal racism and the success of the all-black Harlem Globetrotters), but by 1980, 75 percent of NBA players were African American. Thus, Bird entered a scene in which white stars were indeed rare. Critics labeled his Celtics a "white boy's team," and sportswriters still debated whether African Americans might be somehow inherently more adept at sports than whites. Bird himself referred to this stereotype when he said that he had "proven that a white boy who can't run and jump can play this game."
Bird's impact—both as a player and as a coach—is unparalleled; he helped to change losing teams into champions and a declining professional league into a vibrant and profitable sports and entertainment giant. From a humble high school gymnasium in rural Indiana, Bird came to international attention as one of the best known and most successful athletes in the history of professional sports.
Larry Bird (right) Further Reading:
Bird, Larry, with Bob Ryan. Drive: The Story of My Life. New York, Bantam, 1990.
George, Nelson. Elevating the Game: Black Men and Basketball. New York, Harper Collins, 1992.
Hoose, Phillip M. Hoosiers: The Fabulous Basketball Life of Indiana. New York, Vintage Books, 1986.
Rader, Benjamin G. American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Spectators. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 1983.
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