Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Due to chronic back problems, he retired as a player in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently holds. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.
Larry Bird was born in West Baden, Indiana, the son of Georgia (née Kerns) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird. He grew up in both West Baden and the adjacent town French Lick, which earned him the nickname "the Hick from French Lick" in his professional basketball career. Bird recalled how his mother would make do on the family's meager earnings: "If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first." According to Bird, his being poor as a child "motivates me to this day". He sometimes was sent to live with his grandmother due to the family's struggles. The Bird family's struggle with poverty was compounded by the alcoholism and personal difficulties of Joe Bird, who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in the Korean War. Joe Bird committed suicide on February 3, 1975, when Larry was 18 years old.
Dale Ellis (born August 6, 1960 in Marietta, Georgia) is a retired American professional basketball player, who played in the National Basketball Association.
After his time at the University of Tennessee, Ellis was selected ninth overall in the 1983 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. His time as a shooting guard with the Mavericks was rather unremarkable as he played scant minutes and was often relegated to sitting on the bench.
Ellis' fortunes changed dramatically after he found himself traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Al Wood on July 23, 1986. His playing time increased significantly, and his regular season scoring average reflected this as it jumped from 7.1 points per game with the Mavericks to 24.9 points per game with the SuperSonics. Ellis' rise with the SuperSonics was recognized around the league, which awarded him the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 1987.
Ellis continued to star for the SuperSonics in the late 1980s, with his scoring average topping out at 27.5 point per game during the 1988-89 season. The 2,253 points he scored that season broke Spencer Haywood's franchise record of 2,251 and remained the SuperSonics/Thunder record until Kevin Durant broke it in 2009-10. Ellis was selected to the NBA All-Star Game during the same season, and scored 27 points for the West. In all, Ellis spent four and a half seasons with the SuperSonics before once again being traded, this time to the Milwaukee Bucks for Ricky Pierce.
Craig Anthony Hodges (born June 27, 1960 in Park Forest, Illinois) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the NBA for 10 seasons and led the league in 3-point shooting percentage three times. He won two NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls, and along with Larry Bird, is only one of two players to win three consecutive Three Point Contests at the National Basketball Association All-Star Weekend, winning the competition in 1990, 1991, and 1992. Hodges also holds the Three Point Contest records for the most consecutive shots made with 19, set in 1991, and the most points scored in a single round at 25, set in 1986. He was later a head coach at Chicago State University and most recently an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Hodges played college basketball at Long Beach State from 1978 to 1982. He played under Tex Winter, who later coached him again as an assistant to Phil Jackson with the Chicago Bulls.
During his career in the NBA, Hodges played for the San Diego Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, and Chicago Bulls. He played for the Bulls from 1988 to 1992, and helped win two NBA Championships in 1991 and 1992. He was waived by the Bulls after the 1991–92 season.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born January 12, 1960) is a retired American professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and one of the best dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname "The Human Highlight Film." In 2006, Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame [2].
Wilkins was born in Paris, France because his father was stationed there while in the U.S. Air Force. Wilkins' family then moved to Washington, North Carolina, where he attended Washington High School. He was the back-to-back MVP for the team's consecutive Class 3-A State Championships (1978-1979). Wilkins then starred in the McDonald's Game, The Capital Classic, The Kentucky Derby Festival Classic, and The Dapper Dan Classic All-Star Games. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the McDonald's, 26 points in the Capital, and 22 points in the Derby Classic. He entered the University of Georgia in 1979 with an established reputation as an exciting player. Wilkins averaged 21.6 points a game over his career and was named SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1981. He left college after his junior year and was selected third overall (behind James Worthy and Terry Cummings) by the Utah Jazz in the 1982 NBA Draft.
I sold my soul to gain an inch from your woven hands
but I'm starting to realize
That you'll still feel this way
but I'm not gonna change
This phone call has gone the wrong direction
It's all just misperception
and I hope that we can find our way out of this one
I tried so hard but words came out of my mouth so slowly now
and baby girl if you just listen to the way we explain and justify
Where were the ones
that I needed the most?
Were they batting their lashes
at shadows and ghosts?
My patience is stretched thin,
like unaged skin
Dream of better times
when my time meant something
I tried so hard but words came out of my mouth so slowly now
and baby girl if you just listen to the way we explain and justify
My bones they creak, and my heart is weak
from the days we spent on fire
I'm not alone
I'm just flesh and bone
My bones they creak
yeah my bones they creak
My bones they creak, and my heart is weak