Larry Bird Is One of the NBA’s All-Time Greats. He Nearly Threw It All Away.
- Feb 22
- 1 min read
An excerpt from the new biography Heartland reveals why Bird left Indiana University after just a few weeks, and the family that threatened to change his path forever
Rolling Stone
February 22, 2026
By Keith O'Brien
Larry Bird should have been excited about attending Indiana University in the late summer of 1974. The man who had recruited him to come there, Dave Bliss, had been chasing him for more than a year, convinced of Bird’s greatness. Bliss, a young assistant coach at Indiana with blond hair and blue eyes, recorded his thoughts about Bird in his journal again and again. “Guy is going to be really good,” Bliss wrote. “Bird’s better… Bird’s better than all.” Bliss didn’t even care who else the Hoosiers signed that year. “As long as Bird is one!” he noted. And most importantly, Bliss had convinced his boss, Hoosier head coach Bobby Knight, to at least consider the possibility of Larry Bird...
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