Larr was a force to be reckoned with,” said Bill Benner, who was a sports columnist for the Indianapolis Star, covering the Olympics in Barcelona. “He was not window dressing in any shape or form.”
And yet 10 days later, 10 days after Bird reveled in the gold, he retired from basketball.
The secret was out. He no longer could play the game he loved at the level he wanted to play.
Fans grieved at the news of Bird’s retirement Aug. 18, 1992. The basketball world gushed. Opponents sang Bird’s praises. No one was shocked, said Benner.
For at least two seasons, Bird had been seen lying by the bench, flat on the floor in between playing. He was nursing his back, that nagging back.
“It was increasingly difficult for him to be Larry Bird,” Benner said. “And if Larry Bird is not 100%, his pride is such he wouldn’t have wanted to gradually bow out.” He wouldn’t have wanted to go downhill as the world watched.
So Bird played his final game, not for the Boston Celtics where he had spent his entire 13-year NBA career, but for the USA.
“I think everybody knew that Dream Team was kind of his last soiree,” said Jake Query, morning co-host of the Kevin & Query show on 107.5 The Fan. “A lot of people knew in their hearts Bird was playing his last game.”
Bird to the Pacers?Here is what would have happened if the Pacers had drafted Larry Bird in 1978
‘I knew this day was going to come’
The improbable superstar of professional basketball, a country boy bred on biscuits and gravy who worked as a garbage truck driver at 18 and who grew into a soft-spoken beast on the court, retired 30 years ago. Bird choked back tears at the news conference in Boston.
The rest of the world did not.
Dana Hunsinger Benbow
INDIANAPOLIS — No one knew the thoughts swirling in Larry Bird‘s head the summer of 1992. Bird was in Barcelona, Spain, on a court battling Croatia in the gold medal basketball game of the Olympics – and he had a secret.
Bird was a member of the USA’s star-laced Dream Team, but he wasn’t there as some token player. He was not some perfunctory add to the roster.
If he had been anyone other than Larry Bird, he might not even have been on that team at all and, if he were, maybe as a backup.
Bird was 35. He had played 13 seasons at full throttle in the NBA and back injuries were plaguing him.
Without Bird, that Dream Team had colossal talent: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley.
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But as the USA trounced Croatia 177-85 for the gold medal Aug. 8, 1992, Bird wasn’t just a role player. He was a contributor, an important contributor. Against Germany in the USA’s third game, Bird led the American team with 19 points – and he did it with that secret looming in his head.
“Larry was a force to be reckoned with,” said Bill Benner, who was a sports columnist for the Indianapolis Star, covering the Olympics in Barcelona. “He was not window dressing in any shape or form.”
And yet 10 days later, 10 days after Bird reveled in the gold, he retired from basketball.
The secret was out. He no longer could play the game he loved at the level he wanted to play.
Fans grieved at the news of Bird’s retirement Aug. 18, 1992. The basketball world gushed. Opponents sang Bird’s praises. No one was shocked, said Benner.
For at least two seasons, Bird had been seen lying by the bench, flat on the floor in between playing. He was nursing his back, that nagging back.
“It was increasingly difficult for him to be Larry Bird,” Benner said. “And if Larry Bird is not 100%, his pride is such he wouldn’t have wanted to gradually bow out.” He wouldn’t have wanted to go downhill as the world watched.
So Bird played his final game, not for the Boston Celtics where he had spent his entire 13-year NBA career, but for the USA.
“I think everybody knew that Dream Team was kind of his last soiree,” said Jake Query, morning co-host of the Kevin & Query show on 107.5 The Fan. “A lot of people knew in their hearts Bird was playing his last game.”
Bird to the Pacers?Here is what would have happened if the Pacers had drafted Larry Bird in 1978
‘I knew this day was going to come’
The improbable superstar of professional basketball, a country boy bred on biscuits and gravy who worked as a garbage truck driver at 18 and who grew into a soft-spoken beast on the court, retired 30 years ago. Bird choked back tears at the news conference in Boston.
The rest of the world did not.
Fans mourned as Bird’s 13-year career came to an end with just a few words: “I knew this day was going to come,” Bird said as he announced his retirement, but he couldn’t say any more, not until he swallowed the lump in his throat.
Fans were shown in tears on nightly television newscasts, hours after Bird ended his NBA career. They reminisced about the French Lick basketball teen of Springs Valley High, who went on to “single handedly” lead his Indiana State team to the NCAA championship game, who went on to flourish as a bona fide Celtics legend.
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