(Michael Goodman, pg 25-27).
Bird's rookie season was of legendary status. His rookie season took place in the 79-80" season, and is one for the record books. In that year, he was named Rookie of the Year, and was named to the All NBA team. Bird's second season took place in 80-81", and the owner decided to pick up two of the biggest and strongest tall guys in the league to help the amazing Bird down in the post. One of the most exciting things of Bird's career happened that season, which was winning his first NBA title ever. This was also a great and exciting feat for the Celtic's and the owners, who last won the NBA Finals in 1976, five years before Bird led the team to the record books. Bird then went on to win two more championships with the Celtics, and won a number of MVP awards, until he finally decided to retire on August 18, 1992 (Michael Goodman, pg 27-29). He promised to fulfill his dream of playing in the Olympics before he retired, and he fulfilled this task the summer before he retired, and he said the Olympics is one of the most incredible experiences of his life. While he was playing with the Dream Team in the Olympics, he came home with a gold metal in for the Barcelona Olympics (Larry Bird, pg 1-24).
One of the main reasons Bird decided to retire was a reason no one knew about except his dad, his trainer, and Michael Jordan. The reason was a injury he required while playing in a charity basketball game with Michael Jordan. Bird had a nasty collision with Jordan, and tore portions on his disk wall. He played with his injuries for a few years, until the pain got so bad he couldn't walk without it hurting. Even after Bird retired, the pain continued until he finally had surgery done to it, which fixed all the pain and hasn't hurt since then. After Bird retired originally, he took a job in the Celtic's front office. He worked in that office for three years, and quit in 1995 when the owner decided to trade a player who Bird said was the most valuable player the team had.