Book Nook: The basketball star who humbly described himself as a ‘Hick from French Lick’

The author focuses on the years 1973 through 1979. We learn how the athlete who went on to become a National Basketball Association legend playing for the Boston Celtics almost vanished without a trace. Bird’s play in high school attracted attention. He was recruited by Coach Bobby Knight at Indiana.

But Bird didn’t like it in Bloomington. After only three weeks on campus he bailed, hitchhiking back home to French Lick, Indiana. He kept playing basketball for an amateur team and got a job working on a garbage truck. If not for the persistent efforts of a couple of guys who refused to give up on Larry Bird we might never have heard of him.

One of those fellows went to French Lick which is in the middle of nowhere, to hang around hoping for a rare Bird sighting. He finally spotted him-that was the beginning of his campaign to entice Larry Bird to reconsider, to try going to a much smaller college; Indiana State in Terre Haute.

The other guy who really cared about Larry Bird was the coach at Indiana State. He put together a group of complementary players. As that basketball team prospered, Bird began garnering national notice. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Bird, who was mostly reluctant to talk to the media, grudgingly cooperated.

O’Brien didn’t interview the reclusive and now retired Bird but he talked to just about anybody else who had been close to him during those years. We find out why Bird avoided reporters. He only wanted to talk about basketball and when they stuck their noses into his personal business he didn’t appreciate it.

More than 50 million people watched that championship game. Bird played with a broken thumb. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird could not have been more different. Johnson basked in the spotlight while Bird spurned any attention. Both players went on to become stars of professional basketball.

While this was taking place basketball was not a popular sport in the United States. O’Brien shows how the NCAA and mass media transformed the college game into a sensation. The NBA under a visionary commissioner was also revived as players like Bird and Johnson began attracting huge audiences. Soon the massive superstar Micheal Jordan would launch the sport ever higher.