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Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend," Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, he was a local basketball phenom. Highly recruited, he initially signed to play for coach Bobby Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers, but dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick to attend a local community college. The next year he attended the smaller Indiana State University, playing ultimately for three years for the Sycamores. Drafted by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft after his second year at Indiana State, Bird elected to stay in college and play one more season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season in 1978-1979. The season finished with a memorable national championship game matchup against Michigan State, a team that featured Magic Johnson, beginning a career-long rivalry that the two shared for more than a decade.

Bird entered the NBA for the 1979-1980 season, where he made an immediate impact, starting at power forward and leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season before being eliminated from the playoffs in the Conference Finals. He played for the Celtics during his entire professional career (13 seasons), leading them to five NBA finals appearances and three NBA championships. He played most of his career with forward Kevin McHale and center Robert Parish, considered by some to be the greatest front court in NBA history. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star, won two NBA Finals MVP awards and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984–1986), making him the only forward in league history to do so. Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as "The Dream Team". He was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010 as a member of "The Dream Team".

A versatile player at both forward positions, he could play both inside and outside, being one of the first players in the league to take advantage of the newly adopted three-point line. Bird was rated the greatest NBA small forward of all time by Fox Sports in 2016.

After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997–1998 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017.

Bird is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

He's also a minor character from the 1996 film Space Jam. He is played by himself.

Background[]

Physical Appearance[]

Larry Bird is an slender fair skinned man, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He dons various different colored shirts with a jacket.

Appearances[]

Space Jam[]

Larry Bird is seen playing golf with Bill Murray, Michael Jordan, and Stanley Podolak. During Michael Jordan's turn, he gets sucked in he hole, leaving Stan to dig in out; Bird and Murray leave the golf course eventually as Stan continues to keep digging all the way to nightfall.

He is last seen sitting next to Bill Murray watching Michael Jordan playing basketball with the Chicago Bulls at the end of the film.

King Tweety[]

Gallery[]

v - e - d
Space Jam title (A New Legacy)
Media
Space Jam | Video game | Soundtrack | Video | Space Jam: A New Legacy
Characters
Space Jam: Bugs Bunny | Lola Bunny | Daffy Duck | Porky Pig | Michael Jordan | Elmer Fudd | Sylvester the Cat | Tweety | Tasmanian Devil | Mr. Swackhammer | The Nerdlucks | Yosemite Sam | Granny | Foghorn Leghorn | Marvin the Martian | Stanley Podolak | Wile E. Coyote | Road Runner | Pepé Le Pew | Speedy Gonzales | Sylvester Junior | Pete Puma | Toro the Bull | Henery Hawk | Porky's Drunken Friends | Hector the Bulldog | Gruesome Gorilla | The Crusher | Mama Buzzard | Witch Hazel | Three Bears | The Martin Brothers | Spike and Chester | Sniffles | Rocky and Mugsy | Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot | Ala Bahma | Angus MacRory | Barnyard Dawg | Beaky Buzzard | Bobo the Elephant | Slowpoke Rodriguez | The Weasel | Little Red Riding Hood | Michigan J. Frog | Charlie Dog | Cecil Turtle | Claude Cat | Giovanni Jones | Gossamer | Owl Jolson | Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog | Hippety Hopper | Angus MacRory | Juanita Jordan | Jeffery Jordan | Marcus Jordan | Jasmine Jordan | Bill Murray | Larry Bird

Space Jam: A New Legacy: LeBron James | Dom James | Al-G Rhythm | Batman | Parzival | Joker | Nolan Sorrento | I-R0k | Pete | Scooby-Doo | Shaggy Rogers | Superman | Gandalf | Harry Potter | The Mask | Iron Giant | King Kong | Emmet Brickowski | Wyldstyle | Max Rockatansky | Austin Powers | Rick Blaine | Ilsa Lund | Arya Stark | Drogon | Neo | Scorpion | Sub-Zero | Mumble | Osmosis Jones | Dorothy Gale | Toto | Scarecrow | Tin Woodman | Cowardly Lion | Sloth Fratelli | Gizmo | Fred Flintstone | Barney Rubble | Yogi Bear | George Jetson | Lloyd Garmadon | Unikitty | Benny | Willy Wonka | Frodo Baggins | Metalbeard | Samwise Gamgee | Legolas | Gimli | Hermione Granger | Ronald Weasley | Wonder Woman | The Flash | Aquaman | Cyborg | Green Lantern | Alfred Pennyworth | Kai | Cole | Jay | Zane | Master Wu | Nya | Leah Estrogen | Trinity | Imperator Furiosa | Shazam | Robin | Batgirl | Finn | Jake | Starfire | Raven | Beast Boy | Blossom | Bubbles | Buttercup | Rick Sanchez | Morty Smith | Mikey Walsh | Brand Walsh | Chunk Cohen | Mouth Devereaux | Data Wang | Andy Carmichael | Stef Steinbrenner | Lord Voldemort | Lex Luthor | Sauron | Agent Smith | It | The Wicked Witch of the West | Lord Business | Stripe | Immortan Joe | Dr. Evil | Dorian Tyrell | Freddy Krueger | Jason Voorhees | Jack Torrance | Mechagodzilla | Saruman | Gollum | Two-Face | The Penguin | Catwoman | The Riddler | Harley Quinn | Master Chen | Thrax | Shang Tsung | Sinestro | Bane | Scarecrow | Poison Ivy | Mr. Freeze | Black Adam | Deathstroke | Shao Kahn | Darkseid | Goon Squad

Music
Theme Song | Fly Like an Eagle | The Winner | I Believe I Can Fly | Hit 'Em High (The Monstars' Anthem) | I Found My Smile Again | For You I Will | Upside Down ('Round-N-'Round) | Givin' U All That I've Got | Basketball Jones | I Found My Smile Again | I Turn to You | All of My Days | That's the Way (I Like It) | Buggin'| We Win | Jump | Everybody Wants to Rule the World | Tom Sawyer | Run Wild | The Crowd Go Crazy | We're Not Gonna Take It | Space Jam Rap Battle | Everything's Not Awesome | Man in the Mirror | BBC | You Wouldn't Know (feat. Ellen McClain)
Locations
Moron Mountain | Looney Tune Land | The Tune Stadium | Schlesinger Gym | Server-verse | Harry Potter World | DC World | Mad Max World | Austin Powers World | Casablanca World | Game of Thrones World | The Wizard of Oz World | The Matrix World | Wonder Woman World | The LEGO Movie World | The Lord of the Rings World | The Mask World | Ready Player One World | Scooby-Doo World | The Flintstones World | The Jetsons World | Yogi Bear World | Gremlins World | The Goonies World | Beetlejuice World | Ninjago World | Adventure Time World | The Powerpuff Girls World | Teen Titans Go! World
See Also
Looney Tunes | Merrie Melodies | Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Tune Squad | List of cameos in Space Jam | Space Jam/Gallery | Space Jam/Transcript | Dom Ball
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