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From the where are they now file. The one who got away. The Big O.


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Played  for the Attucks in Indy.  Lost the championship game to Milan. Which eventually lead to the movie "Hoosiers"

College. Not IU. Successful in the NBA after college.  And in life. Establishing three companies.  Just one of which :ORCHEM History - ORCHEM CORPORATION

And had worked to improve living conditions for many in Indianapolis.

Now 80 years of age.  My hat's off to you Big O.

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, BobSaccamanno said:

A legend returns.  I hope you can stay!

haha Thx, bro!!! I got this "Newbie" status stuck on my profile... any thoughts on getting that changed to "Legend" 😉 (J/K)

I've been away doing my thing for some time and Mile kept chipping away at me to come back every time we would see eachother... and so it worked. I can't promise I'll be the regular I used to be, but I will definitely be on more and can hopefully contribute.

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Never saw him play in his prime at the pro/college/H.S. level, but the man is a legend (even the Farm Bureau commercial portraying him is).  All that said, he kind of seem like a bitter and whiny man in some of the interviews I've seen with him over the years (not in all of them).

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2 minutes ago, Billingsley99 said:

#1 in my book

Great player. No doubt.  And in the top of all that have come out of Indiana.  However.  Got to rank "The Hick from French Lick", above the "Big O".

Talk about another one that got away from IU !

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4 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

Great player. No doubt.  And in the top of all that have come out of Indiana.  However.  Got to rank "The Hick from French Lick", above the "Big O".

Talk about another one that got away from IU !

Stats-wise they don't get much closer than those two...

image.png.49d28f088cfc326db767a6fbc9c7c6e5.png

Bird w/ 3 more rebs and Oscar counters with 3 more assists. WS/48 is .203 vs .207. Brothers from another mother.

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9 minutes ago, cybergates said:

Stats-wise they don't get much closer than those two...

image.png.49d28f088cfc326db767a6fbc9c7c6e5.png

Bird w/ 3 more rebs and Oscar counters with 3 more assists. WS/48 is .203 vs .207. Brothers from another mother.

Thanks for providing the stats.  No doubt. Two of Indiana's greatest.  That did not go to IU.  Sadly. 

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11 minutes ago, Billingsley99 said:

1 went briefly 

True.  Bird did enroll in IU. You are correct.  Some say he left because of the size of the campus. Others say, Larry left because Coach Knight blew past him one night on Kirkwood.  And others say, he left when he went to get help from Coach Knight about getting a required suit, and Coach Knight did not help him.

All I know. Is. Coach Knight said publicly.... the greatest mistake he ever made was not doing more for Larry Bird, to keep him at IU.

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11 minutes ago, milehiiu said:

True.  Bird did enroll in IU. You are correct.  Some say he left because of the size of the campus. Others say, Larry left because Coach Knight blew past him one night on Kirkwood.  And others say, he left when he went to get help from Coach Knight about getting a required suit, and Coach Knight did not help him.

All I know. Is. Coach Knight said publicly.... the greatest mistake he ever made was not doing more for Larry Bird, to keep him at IU.

Larry had some roommate issues as well. What could have been . We may have won 4 in a row 

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On 7/13/2020 at 9:15 PM, milehiiu said:

My family moved to New Castle in the summer of 1954.  I distinctly remember watching the tournament on WTTW channel 4 in 55 and 56.  What a treat that was!  Oscar was the best I ever saw from Indiana.   Bird was a close second. 

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Larry is on the record that it was the size of the campus.  There may have been contributing factors such as his being extremely poor and Wisman having fancy clothes or Benson bullying him, but it comes down to how big the campus was and how he wasn’t comfortable as a dirt poor kid from French Lick.  

It worked out the best for Larry but of course IU fans can play the “what if” game.  Knight is on the record as saying he would have loved Bird, which is stating the obvious.  The late 70s at IU would have been different, that’s for sure.  

In the end, though, I think we can all agree Larry went where he belonged at Indiana State.  That’s where he fit in and he’s very loyal to ISU to this day.  He averaged 30 and 13 as a sophomore and never looked back.  

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