Supplied in a nice, luxury display case as seen in the photo. Nicely finished with a sports23 aluminium nametag. Signed in gold by Larry Bird including a COA and a hologram. Beautiful Converse full leather shoe. Rare item! Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana, his parents were Georgia and Joe Bird. He grew up in West Baden Springs and the nearby town of French Lick, giving him the nickname The Hick from French Lick. Bird began his basketball career in the Springs Valley Highschool team, where he is still known as the most prolific player ever to play for Springs Valley High. In 1974, Bird chose Indiana University where he ended up on the team of the famous basketball coach Bobby Knight. Bird, however, felt absolutely out of place here and decided to leave university after a month, only to return to college level with the Indiana State University (ISU) Sycamores. Bird already took part in the NBA draft in 1978. He was then selected as 6th player in the draft by the Boston Celtics. Bird, however, decided to continue playing for another year with the Sycamores. The Celtics nevertheless retained the exclusive right to recruit him a year later. Larry Bird led the Sycamores to the NCAA Championship finals in 1979, where he lost in one of the most legendary college games ever to Michigan State University, led by Earvin Magic Johnson. A game in which Bird scored 19 points compared to Magic Johnson's 24. To this day, this game is said to be the beginning of the March Madness, the contemporary "craziness" surrounding the NCAA championships that take place in March. Bird was named NCAA Player of the Year at the end of the 1979 basketball 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 to the "big" guys in the NBA, where he joined the Boston Celtics in the 1978 draft. Bird had a major impact on the game of the Celtics with his extraordinary leadership skills, game insight, fit and an insane jump shot. He was immediately selected Rookie of the Year in 1979, at the expense of the high-performing Magic Johnson who had also made the switch to the NBA that same year and was first selected in the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Bird played mainly in the small forward and power forward positions. Bird had during his rookie year averages of 21.3 points per game, 10.4 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game. Bird was selected, already as a rookie, by the Eastern Conference Allstar Team in 1979, a feat that would repeat itself over the next 12 years. Bird managed to win the NBA championship three times with NBA legends such as Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. Together with Magic Johnson, they led the popularity of NBA basketball back to new heights which until that moment had fallen into the doldrums. They did this mainly by reviving the long-standing rivalry between the Bird’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers. Throughout his NBA career, Larry Bird averaged 24.3 points per game, 10.0 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per game. He won the gold medal with the first and most legendary Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics. Bird is still regarded as one of the best players in NBA history and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. Bird was voted one of the 50 best NBA players ever in 1996. The item will be shipped with insurance as standard, but you’re welcome to collect it.