Boston Celtics NBA legend Larry Bird has retired

On this day in Boston Celtics history, legendary Celtics forward Larry Bird, one of the best players in NBA history, retired as a player in 1992. (As he put it) At age 35, he retired after three titles, three MVPs, two NBA Finals MVPs, a dozen NBA All-Star nods, and 10 All-NBA selections, among other accolades. put.

After a short stint at Indiana University, Byrd played his college ball at Indiana State and won the 1979 National College Player of the Year.

He was drafted sixth overall in the 1978 NBA Draft by the Celtics, the only NBA team he played for, out of Indiana.

“The last two years have been very hard on me, my back and my body,” Byrd said at a press conference to announce his retirement. Clifton Brown of The New York Times).

“It was very hard to deal with day to day. Unfortunately, it all came to this. I would have loved to play a little bit longer, maybe another year or two, but there was no way I could do that. So, today, I am retiring.”

In many ways, the excitement surrounding Bird’s career and his rivalry with Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson helped rescue the NBA from semi-obscurity and set the stage for superstar Michael Jordan’s rise to stardom in the 1990s.

“There is no way to quantify Larry Bird’s impact on the game of basketball,” said then-NBA commissioner David Stern.

With his intensity, dedication, competitiveness and will to win, he has been the best team player in a major team sport. Quite simply, Larry Bird has helped define the way a generation of fans see and appreciate NBA basketball.

“In the future, great players will be judged by the standards he set, but there will never be another Larry Bird,” Stern added.

It also marks the death of former Celtics forward Don Ellison, who died on this date in 2003.

A Hamline University product, Eliasson joined the NFL after college as one of a small group of players to have played in both the league and the NBA (or, as it was known at the time, the American Basketball Association/BAA). US Army in World War II

Ellison returned to the sport in 1946, joining Boston in the BAA’s first season the same year he rejoined the NFL.

His time with the Celtics was as brief as he played just one game with the team and recorded one foul in that contest.

Finally, this is also the date that Boston small forward Bob Bigelow passed away in 2020.

Bigelow — a Boston native — played at the NCAA level with the University of Pennsylvania before being recruited by the (then). Kansas City Kings (now, Sacramento).