Larry J. Bird's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

during his brilliant career Larry Bird has done it all he has achieved every possible honor in the game of basketball including championships awards and the retirement of his jersey but now he receives the game's ultimate honor as he takes his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame we've seen some of his great moments we've heard from his friends and former teammates about the only thing left is to hear from the man himself ladies and gentlemen Larry Bird joined by his former coach with the bathroom selfies billfish these Hall of Fame by his former Septon teammate Bill Walton thank you thank you very much thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you very much thank you thank you hi I was going to have bill walling to write my speech at night they say his features are a lot longer than his career was so just trying to stay away from that day one quick story about Coach Fitch back in 1980 I first came to the Boston Celtics my first came to the Boston Celtics when we went to us when we went on to a road trips we had a thing called seniority sometimes it would enough first-class seats for all of us so of course the rookies and the one or two year veterans had to go to the back of the plane well I did that the first two or three road trips and one day I said at the airport and I was just thinking wonder what kind of ticket I'm gonna get today and I'll get a pink ticket for first class I'll get a white ticket for Coach seat while we just came off a three-game road trip and I played very well so I thought well this is the time to make my move Rea milky or II came by sure enough he hand me a white boarding pass I say excuse me ray you go tell coach Fitch that I'm a first-class player I expect a first-class seat of course ray came back and coach Fitch says tell him to get his butt on the plane you know I've always considered myself a very proud individual the boys said I was very proud to come from small-town French Lick and West Baden Indiana I was though I was always very proud to spend four great years in Terre Haute Indiana and in this Indiana State University and guess I'm very proud to say I spent 13 years playing for the ball facade I've been buried I've been very fortunate throughout my career to have some great coaches all started back in small town and West Baden in French Lick I had two high school coaches Jim Jones and Gary Holland it's been a lot of time with me teach me the fundamentals of the game back when I was in the seventh eighth grade playing on the outdoor courts every day whenever we was out there two o'clock three o'clock didn't matter coach Jones would always stop by and see how he's progressing every day he would give us a new drill to work on whether it's a pick-and-roll that I ran with Robert Perry's time after time after time I was a basic free-throw shooting or just a basic bounce pass but every day he gave us something work on me and my friends he said I'll be back after Walt is how you're progressing we would stay there and stay there and stay there just knowing he was coming back sure enough he did time after time coach Jones would do this we go out we play we spend three or four hours waiting on him he'd finally come back some days it was five hours but sure enough we would be there because we didn't want to disappoint him coach Jones came back one day and I said coach what do you do when you leave here so I got other places to go but I'm always going to come back to tell you guys progress well now 20 years later or really 20 is now 30 years later I asked it he said hey Larry some went to play golf but I had another coach in high school Gary Holland he taught me one thing tell me what a green light was one night was playing a basketball game and he says Larry you have the green light that's a green light what's that he goes you have the ability to play the game the way you want to play the game do you want to shoot it out there you shoot if you want to pass just make the plays if you play hard play well we win every time that green lights been on for 30 years now you know I feel very honored to be here having coach Fitch coming in the NBA playing football so my first reading on what to expect but coach Fitch treat me like a player he worked me hard he taught me a lot about the game I will a lot to him he's what made me what I am today especially coming through the pro ranks he wanted to accomplish the same piece that I wanted to accomplish next to win championships I commemorate 1956 to win a game he says need one more rebound to win this championship somebody get the ball is if we do you'll finally put a smile on my face and he was smiling so wide right then because he knew we had it wrapped up we went out finish that game it was most awesome feeling I've ever had in basketball see I played a lot of basketball up til I got to Boston but I really never won anything so that night it was very special not only for me but my coach other coaches that I had the great Casey Jones one of the greatest human beings they were born on this earth fulsol lucky and honor to play for him remember in LA and Game five of the championship series we was out there and we were down by two or three points at halftime and we come out to warm up before we started a third quarter and Kasey come walking out and he called me over he said Larry he said I hate to tell you this he said there's been a death threat on your life like a one-piece is well they're bad death threats you got to make a decision whether you want to finish the game or go back sit in the locker room wait till we get done or leave the arena that's why I'm going to play so Kasey just turns and walks away I go right through the layup line on the other side I look over here scum Kasey pointing at me I walk over to K session now what because well the horns getting ready below here Larry he says whatever you do don't come to the huddle he said could you please stand out here he said could could you please stand out here at center court he said you never know the guy might be a bad shot so just tuned the horn blows I walk over to Casey he's growing on the play I put my arm around him he looks up puts his head down squats down a little bit so the guys are surround him he goes thanks a lot now you gotta understand this is in the finals of the NBA and how cool Casey was under the circumstances also had Chris Ford and Jimmie Rodgers very good coaches of mine there's a lot of great stories to tell tonight but I won't get into all of them the one thing I wish could happen night is my mother to be here because I know she's very proud looking down she always she always told me late in her life a few years back she skills for blonde head snow you know kid you did very well Larry I'm very proud of it also I'd like to thank my wife we're putting up with me for 21 years but if you think the first 20 word one we're tough wait for the next twenty one girl I also like to thank Jill Eon it's been helping me out for the past 20 21 years now she's been a great help to me been a great friend very professional I don't know what else to say I'd say it's been awesome I would also like to also like to thank Red Auerbach for drafting me back when I was a junior in college and waiting only for a year and I would also like to thank Donnie Walsh for giving me an opportunity to coach the Indiana Pacers something I didn't think I would ever want to do but after constant Donnie and promised him that I would win a championship he bit the bait and I'm in Indiana thank you very much I'm so thrilled and so honored to be here tonight god bless each and every one of you you you

Channel: OfficialHoophall

Views: 1,642,136

Keywords: Larry Bird, Speech, Basketball Hall of Fame, Enshrinement, Basketball, History

Id: h6MqhAzg0qk

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 01 2012