Larry Bird Biography Essay Example

Growing up in Indiana you are taught from a young age that basketball is the “best” sport ever created to man. Now imagine growing up in Indiana and not caring about basketball at all then play in the NBA for 13 seasons, well Larry Bird did just that. Larry bird was nicknamed “the hick from French Lick”, Larry Bird was nicknamed this because he was raised in French Lick, Indiana. Get the joke there? Larry Bird was Brought up in a very hard time for his family, but they made it through it.  

Larry Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana on December 7th, 1956. Larry was raised in French Lick, Indiana. Larry Bird was brought up in a decent sized family, him and his brother and sisters were taught to always stick up for each other no matter what. Larry’s entire family was good at sports but unlike his brothers and sisters Larry didn’t really like playing sports. Larry did like to watch baseball though; Larry found his love for basketball at an older age but found out he wasn’t that good at it. Larry Bird didn’t start playing basketball until his freshman year and made the “B” team, which he wasn’t that upset about since it was the first time, he really taking basketball serious (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Basketball is the only sport that Larry did not want to quit because he wasn’t good at it, he put the work in with the help of his favorite coach Jim Jones (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Larry’s sophomore year is when he played varsity and really started to take basketball seriously and broke his ankle and still played the rest of the game because he knew he couldn’t do that to his team (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Not shortly after that game Bird was out almost the rest of the season due to how severe the injury was (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Birds’ senior year his dad was going through a very hard time when it came to depression, so he killed himself in his parents’ basement (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Even though Larry was upset he still played his heart out so he could make his dad proud 

Larry bird always relied on his skills, incredible basketball smarts was the most important to him and his career. With Larry Bird being a professional basketball player, he obviously had to have some sort of skills to get that far when it came to basketball. Larry bird had great vison and hands, he could see the court and teammates just out the corner of his eye (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Larry Bird wasn’t always amazing at basketball he had to work hard on the skills he did develop. Bird became an amazing shooter and passer, and he worked every morning and every night even after basketball passer, Bird had a goal and he made it happen (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). 

Bird is known for a lot of things but some of his challenges and achievements here are some of them. Bird was given the rookie of the year award which is very hard to get but he got it his very first season (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). Larry will forever be remembered by his unflappable confidence and clutch shooting ability, which together created an intimidating presence on the court (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989). The challenge that Bird always faced was how could he play when he’s playing the sport he loves while he wants to make his dad happy. Bird never understood how he could make his dad proud if his dad wasn’t there to see him play, Larry then realized no matter what his dad was already so proud of him because he could see him from heaven (Bird, Larry, and Bob Ryan. Drive The Story of my Life. Doubleday, 1989).

After reading about Larry Bird it made me respect him so much more. Larry Bird will forever be my legend. You may ask why and my answer would have to be how to you go from hating sports to a very well known NBA superstar? You may ask the same question too but I guess we would have to ask Mr. Bird whenever we run into him walking down the road. But anyways you would call Larry Bird a legend too if you read a book about all the horrible things that happened in his years growing up, like who wants to play a sport right after their dad dies I know I wouldn’t want to but Larry did just that.