Larry Bird was born in 1965 in a small town in the middle western State of Indiana. He was tall, and always good at playing basketball. He attended Indiana State University. Bird led the team into the College Basketball Championship Game.
    After completing his college studies, Larry Bird began playing professional （职业的）basketball for the Boston Celtics. He remained with the Celtics for all his professional career（生涯）. During those 13 years, Larry Bird was named the Most Valuable Player of the Year three times. He scored more than 21,000 points, and he played in 13 of the highest scoring games in his team”s history. Once he scored 60 points in just one game.
    During his very successful basketball career, Larry Bird suffered a number of injuries. In 1989, he stopped playing because of pain in his feet. He returned in 1990, but the pain in his feet returned too. In the next two years he experienced more medical problems, and he missed many games.
    Larry Bird did play on the Dream Team－the first Olympic Team with professional players. However, after winning the gold medal in Barcelona, he announced that he would retire（退役）from professional basketball. Larry Bird said he would have liked to play a little longer, but he could not because of his health problems. He also said it was a good time to leave the game. He wanted to be remembered as a winner.