NBA legend Larry Bird, widely considered one of the all-time great players, says he wanted to go to Kentucky in college.
“I wanted to go to Kentucky, but Kentucky wasn’t recruiting me,” Bird said on a recent NBA on TNT show.
“Coach Joe Hall of Kentucky came to see me but told me I was too slow,” Bird said in an article back in 1979. “He had a lot of great players, proved by Kentucky winning the national championship last year. But I never thought I was too slow. Maybe Coach Hall doesn’t think so now.”
Bird ended up playing at Indiana State where he led the Sycamores to an 81-13 record during his time there. In college, he averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.
I didn’t know Larry Bird wanted to go to Kentucky. How’d they mess that up @wildcatnews? Kentucky loves shooters, what could have been. pic.twitter.com/U496tDHltN
— Vince Cali (@_VinceCali) February 21, 2024
LARRY BIRD (1979): Growing up, Bird’s dream was to play for the University of Kentucky. But head coach Joe B. Hall thought he was “too slow,” so he didn’t offer Bird a scholarship.
St. Petersburg Times, March 26, 1979 pic.twitter.com/SsXQ8t9fI0
— Zero Star Reviews (@ZeroStarReviews) March 30, 2022
You can watch the entire show here:
Of course, we all know what Bird did in the NBA on the way to becoming one of the league’s all-time greats:
