Basketball fans are lucky that what could have been never happened.
The name Larry Bird is synonymous with basketball excellence, both collegiately and in the NBA. But many people don’t know that Bird’s public storyline could have been very different. A few moves here and there, and Larry the Legend would never have been.
Bird (20) with Hancock Construction (photo courtesy Celtic Life)
Bird was a local high school basketball star in Indiana, recruited by Bob Knight to play for the Indiana Hoosiers. He left IU after a month and returned to French Lick, his hometown. Bird’s dad had committed suicide, and he wanted to help out his mother during this difficult time. Bird painted houses, did maintenance work, and labored on other similar tasks. The plan was to help his mom financially by going into construction work.
In a way, construction work led to being a college and, then, a pro star.
Hancock Construction Company had an eponymously named AAU basketball team. Hancock Construction entered the Indiana State Tournament and tore through the competition, winning the championship.
After the tournament, Bird continued to work, but college coaches came calling. He chose Indiana State and eventually took his team to the 1979 Final Four in that mammoth final game with Magic Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans. That game–viewed by an estimated 40 million people, nearly 1 of every 4 Americans–is credited with being the launchpad of college basketball’s modern era. An all-world NBA career with the Boston Celtics followed, including many battles with Johnson’s Lakers.
Bird became an international celebrity, not a construction worker, and aren’t we all thankful for a storyline that never happened?
I love Larry Bird. I was in the middle of my high school years when he went in to the NBA. He was awesome to watch. However, I never knew this about him. Thank you so very much for this wonderful article, Matthew Paris. I love it!