{"id":1512265,"date":"2022-06-04T07:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1512265"},"modified":"2023-06-08T17:10:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T21:10:39","slug":"larry-bird-abandoned-professional-basketball-dropped-college-just-24-days-due-homesickness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/larry-bird-abandoned-professional-basketball-dropped-college-just-24-days-due-homesickness\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Bird Abandoned Professional Basketball and Dropped out of College After Just 24 Days Due to Homesickness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/larry-bird\/\">Larry Bird<\/a> is rightly remembered as one of the best players ever to grace a basketball court. However, there was a moment when he nearly left the game behind for good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bird's first experience at college left him so disillusioned he was willing to quit basketball then and there and <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-more-humble-career-path-before-becoming-nba-legend\/\">get a normal job<\/a>. Without the assistance of a little-known coach at Indiana State, his <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-heads-the-15-man-boston-celtics-75th-anniversary-team\/\">Hall of Fame career<\/a> would never have happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-larry-bird-was-initially-recruited-to-attend-indiana\">Larry Bird was initially recruited to attend Indiana<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Larry Bird, Springs Valley High School, Class of 1974.<br><br>\ud83d\udc49 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2MP13xmYZQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/2MP13xmYZQ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y3S56r4Q83\">pic.twitter.com\/Y3S56r4Q83<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Super70sSports\/status\/1534673669120831488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-hick-from-french-lick-nickname-never-more-appropriate-than-when-landed-in-boston\/\">The Hick from French Lick<\/a>&#8221; was a hometown hero as a teenager. Attending Springs Valley High School, Bird dominated the local basketball scene. As a senior, he averaged a cartoonish 30 points and 20 rebounds a game while leading the team to a 21-4 record. With numbers like that, how did he ever lose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bird's talent brought all the major schools to town. Over 50 schools reportedly recruited him, but he was always predisposed to staying <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-birds-mother-couldnt-comprehend-her-sons-15-million-deal-boston-celtics-yet-she-remained-just-like-him\/\">close to home<\/a>, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crimsonquarry.com\/2020\/4\/29\/21239054\/what-if-larry-bird-hadnt-transferred-from-iu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Crimson Quarry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bird ultimately chose to attend Indiana University because &#8220;he likes coach Bobby Knight, the players, the fans and the way they have things set up there.&#8221; For a local kid, <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-felt-mistreated-by-college-teammate-when-arrived-in-nba-went-out-of-way-to-mercilessly-humiliate-every-opportunity\/\">joining the Hoosiers<\/a> tends to be a dream come true, but for Bird, the transition proved to be a struggle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-larry-bird-left-the-school-after-less-than-a-month\">Larry Bird left the school after less than a month<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Larry Bird was an Indiana Hoosier for less than a month. <br><br>He was on campus from August 26th 1974-September 18th 1974. There are no known pictures of him on campus or wearing an Indiana jersey. <br><br>Closest we have is this photo of him wearing an Indiana shirt with Bob Knight in HS <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iUv95le0gP\">pic.twitter.com\/iUv95le0gP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Fanatics Sportsbook (@FanaticsBook) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FanaticsBook\/status\/1645868663109738496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-biography-career-net-worth-family-top-stories\/\">Larry Bird<\/a> left a small town of only 2,000 people to attend a school of 33,000 students. The step-up was too much for him to handle.\u00a0He left the school after only 24 days on campus. He didn't tell anyone, including his parents, he was leaving. Bird just hitchhiked his way back home.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was unhappy at Indiana for a few reasons. In addition to the size of the school, Bird also cited the heavy course load as a factor.\u00a0Bob Knight also had a hand in his exit. Ever the people person, the coach refused to acknowledge Bird on campus when his player said hello. Knight eventually admitted his conduct with Bird was &#8220;one of my greatest mistakes,&#8221; but the damage was done.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He initially enrolled at junior college Northwood Institute (now\u00a0Northwood University). But Bird dropped out and worked odd jobs like cutting grass, painting benches, striping streets, and driving a garbage truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-if-not-for-the-intervention-of-one-coach-an-nba-legend-could-ve-left-basketball-behind-too-soon\">If not for the intervention of one coach, an NBA legend could've left basketball behind too soon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Larry Bird College Highlights Indiana State Sycamores\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NEu8O_iQHX4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Larry Bird had given up on basketball. But one person still believed he had a future in the game: Bill Hodges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1975, Hodges was just a guy who had spent a decade as an assistant coach at Marian, Tennessee Tech, and Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia, before joining Indiana State. He was frustrated with his current status and promised his wife Connie he would find a new professional if he couldn't get Bird to the school.\u00a0The college signing deadline was two weeks away, so Hodges had to move fast to pull this off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The people of French Lick (Frenchies? Lickians?) turned out to be a surprising obstacle. They were very protective of Bird, who was still recovering from the <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-was-numbed-and-confused-after-the-tragic-death-of-his-father\/\">death of his father<\/a>. Hodges remembers one moment as the one that clinched Bird's enrollment at Indiana State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two of them discussed how one of Bird's friends was a great high school player, but he was now forgotten since he didn't go to college.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Bill looked Larry in the eyes,&#8221; said Patrick Wood, writer and director of an upcoming film based on Bird's recruitment to Indiana State, to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/sports\/college\/2021\/11\/16\/movie-how-indiana-state-coach-bill-hodges-recruited-larry-bird\/8528520002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indy Star<\/a>. &#8220;&#8216;You don't go to college, Larry? That's exactly what people are going to say about you.' Bill said at that moment, as Larry looked at him, he thought, &#8216;That's when I knew I had him.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two days later, Bird confirmed his return to the game and embarked on a legendary college career. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before becoming an NBA legend on the court, Larry Bird dropped out of college and stopped playing professional basketball due to homesickness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":1512362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4814,62310],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Larry Bird Abandoned Professional Basketball and Dropped out of College After Just 24 Days Due to Homesickness - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why did Larry Bird almost abandon the sport of professional basketball? 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