Boston Celtics - Larry Bird - jersey

This item is rarely offered. A silver/gray Celtics Mitchell & Ness Legend jersey. The item comes with a COA (certificate of authenticity) and a hologram.

Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana, the son of Georgia and Joe Bird. He grew up in West Baden Springs and the nearby town of French Lick, which earned him the nickname The Hick from French Lick. Bird began his basketball career on Springs Valley High School’s team, where he is still known as the most productive player ever to have played for Springs Valley High.

In 1974 Bird chose Indiana University, where he landed on the team of the famous basketball coach Bobby Knight. Bird, however, felt absolutely out of place there and decided after a month to leave the university again, only to later return at the college level with the Indiana State University (ISU) Sycamores.

In 1978 Bird already participated in the NBA draft. He was selected 6th overall by the Boston Celtics. Bird, however, decided to stay another year for the Sycamores. Nevertheless, the Celtics retained the exclusive right to recruit him a year later.

In 1979 Larry Bird led his Sycamores to the NCAA Championship game, where he lost in one of the most legendary college games ever to Michigan State University, which at the time was led by Earvin Magic Johnson. In that game Bird scored 19 points to Magic Johnson’s 24. To this day, it is said that this was the beginning of March Madness, the current craze surrounding the NCAA tournaments held in March.

At the end of the 1979 basketball year, Bird was named NCAA Player of the Year, averaging 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

After the bitter loss to Michigan State University, Bird decided to move up to the big guys in the NBA, where he landed with the Boston Celtics via the 1978 draft.

Thanks to his exceptional leadership qualities, court vision, passing and an incredible jumpshot, Bird immediately had a major impact on the Celtics’ game. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1979, defeating the very good Magic Johnson, who in the same year had also moved to the NBA and had been the first pick in the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Bird mainly played at the small forward and power forward positions.

In his rookie year Bird posted averages of 21.3 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game. In 1979, as a rookie, he was selected for the Eastern Conference All-Star Team, a feat he would repeat for the next 12 years.

Bird managed, among others, with NBA legends like Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, to win the NBA championship three times. Along with Magic Johnson, he helped revive the popularity of NBA basketball, which had somewhat stalled up to that point, by rekindling the long-standing rivalry between the Celtics (Bird) and the Lakers (Magic).

Throughout his NBA career Larry Bird posted very impressive averages of 24.3 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per game.

In the 1992 Olympics he earned the gold medal as part of the first and most legendary Dream Team.

Bird is still regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. Bird was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996.

This item is shipped with standard insured shipping, but you are also welcome to pick it up.