Larry Bird’s NBA Debut Was Postponed Due to a Mother’s Day Promise and a Few Driver Education Courses.
It makes sense to assume that the majority of NBA basketball players aspired to join the Association as quickly as feasible. Who hasn’t grown up hoping to make the game-winning shot to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy? Becoming a professional also offers a huge salary. Although millions of dollars cannot purchase happiness, many issues can be resolved with them. But Larry Bird is kind of a special kind of person.
It wasn’t totally correct to refer to Larry Legend as The Hick From French Lick, but he did had different priorities than a lot of other athletes. Think back to the beginning of his NBA career, for instance. Bird was not interested in visiting Beantown a little earlier, despite the Boston Celtics’ requests. The forward was not done with his duties.
What then was scheduled for him? Let’s investigate it.
Larry Bird declined to play for the Celtics in favor of student teaching because he was certain he would earn his degree.
The top collegiate basketball players of days play one season on campus before making an attempt to make the Association. Still, Larry Bird operated in a slightly different manner while he was at Indiana State University.
The forward had a miserable time at Indiana to begin his college career, but he was only in Bloomington for about a month. After moving back home, he started working as a garbage guy until being persuaded to try basketball again at Indiana State. After being forced to miss his first year of college, Bird played for the Sycamores for three seasons.
Bird was chosen by the Celtics as the sixth overall choice in the 1978 NBA draft. It was a risky decision, though. Since the forward intended to play his final year, Boston would have to put up with a certain amount of uncertainty.
But he had a trouble-free season, and Red Auerbach called after Indiana State’s season concluded. With a few games remaining, Bird was free to sign a contract and become a member of the Celtics’ squad. But the offer was not accepted.
What was Larry Legend up to when he wasn’t playing hoops professionally? Taking a holiday? Using his notoriety from the NCAA to make a little money? Nope. The sniper had some very blue-collar responsibilities, which was a really on-brand move.
“He had to fulfill his graduation requirements by teaching students in order to fulfill his promise to his mom that he would get his degree,” Dan Shaughnessy stated in Wish It Lasted Forever: Life With the Larry Bird Celtics, published in 2021. This resulted in his being assigned to teach health and physical education at West Vigo High School in Terre Haute. In addition to instructing a special needs class, Bird also taught drivers’ ed and CPR.
It is true that Shaughnessy wrote exactly what you are probably thinking.
“It’s true that some adults in rural southern Indiana tell their friends that they used to have Larry Bird teach drivers’ ed,” the author joked.
Even while that decision might seem absurd, it was entirely Bird’s.
As I mentioned above, it seems incredibly bizarre to consider a lottery pick delaying their entry into the NBA. At the risk of seeming cynical, the sooner you sign a contract, the sooner you secure some life-changing money. Even if the dollar values were a bit different in the 1970s, the principle still remains.