When you think of Larry Bird and his life story, most basketball fans will probably hit the same beats. The famous forward cut his teeth while in the state of Indiana, propelling the Sycamores into the national spotlight. He then signed with the Boston Celtics and won both championships and singles titles. Then, in retirement, Larry Legend joined the Indiana Pacers and proved he could excel as a coach and leader.
However, Bird’s brief stint in Indiana is little more than a footnote. He was scheduled to play for the Hoosiers but barely spent any time on campus before throwing in the towel and returning home.
And while that stint at Bloomington may seem insignificant – the forward was never fit for an official game – he nonetheless left campus with an invaluable lesson.
History class is taking place.
Larry Bird learned how to shoot a step-back jumper in Indiana
Based on his exploits in the NBA, it’s easy to picture Larry Bird as an unstoppable force capable of handling any situation with confidence. However, as a teenager, adjusting to life in Indiana proved quite a challenge.
“Bird was intimidated by what he experienced on campus,” Dan Shaughnessy wrote in his 2021 book. Wish it had lasted forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics. “The neat people at IU were very different from the people back home in French Lick and West Baden. They had money and polish. Bird didn’t have either. He still hadn’t been on a plane.”
Basketball, which could have been a haven during a trying time, couldn’t have been much more welcoming.
“[Head coach Bob] Knight didn’t have time for freshmen and Bird didn’t get much affection from the star players on campus,” Shaughnessy explained, noting that Kent Benson regretted that choice. “Indiana’s freshman recruits were frozen from practice in the assembly hall, so Bird occasionally played two-on-two outdoors with varsity stars Scott May and Bobby Wilkerson.”
While that sounds like a less than ideal lab, Larry Legend was undeterred. In fact, he came away from these sessions with a valuable lesson under his belt.
It was there that Bird borrowed and refined May’s step-back sweater. As a weapon designed to make room for a player without much jumping ability, May’s step back was the most important lesson Bird learned from his short stint at Bloomington.
Dan Shaughnessy
And that time on campus was short. Bird spent less than a month in Bloomington before heading home. He never played a game for the Hoosiers.
That wasn’t the only lesson Bird learned under less than ideal circumstances
While the idea of Larry Bird learning a key part of his game on the tarmac might seem like a curious artifact of a bygone era, his experience at Bloomington was not an isolated one. In fact, the famous striker received a crash course in trash-talking under similar circumstances.
Growing up, Bird loved basketball and played whenever he could. This included going to the hotel near his home and going to court with the workers. Playing against grown men could have been a challenging if not devastating experience, but the future NBA star relished it.
“They smoked their Kools and drank their beers between games, but great boys,” he recalled. “They treated me very well. If I showed up and someone needed a break, they threw me right in and I stayed there the rest of the day. But they were pretty good players. They really weren’t great at all. They always seemed to let me in there and play with them and I always enjoyed that because I was always looking at that group of guys. They had a great relationship, they got along very well. … Score meant very little, but a lot of talking, a lot of fun.”
And considering all the trash talk Larry Legend brought to the NBA, he certainly never forgot those experiences.
At the risk of glorifying the good old days when people walked uphill to school in the snow both ways, these two situations tell you everything you need to know about Bird and what made him great.
Most kids — he was apparently around 10 during these games — wouldn’t hold his own against grown men, but Bird did more than just persevere. He took the opportunity and took some important lessons with him. Even when he made it to the pros, Larry Legend didn’t stop having fun. (Looking at the forward and grappling with his trash talk may not have been fun for everyone, but the Celtics certainly enjoyed it).
Similarly, traveling to Indiana and being relegated to two-on-twos on outdoor courts could have been a crushing experience, but Bird learned a valuable lesson off campus. He was never the sportiest man, but he could turn off the lights; Mimicking a step-back jumper proved perfect for his abilities.
If you’ve spent time playing sports, you’ve probably heard countless clichés about how adversity reveals a person’s true character. And while that’s not always true, it certainly seems to work for Larry Bird. When faced with a challenging college experience — as you’ll recall, No. 33 even put aside basketball to become a garbage man after leaving Bloomington — he wasn’t heartbroken. Last but not least, it made him better.
Who knows, without this step-back jumper in NBA history, things could be very different.
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