When March Went Mad (cont.)

Some three decades later, Hodges still remembers every little detail from that first visit to French Lick. He remembers what Larry was wearing ("a white T-shirt and blue jeans"). He remembers what Granny Kerns's living room looked like ("hardwood floors, antique-ish country furniture, nothing fancy, but it was as clean as you can imagine"). He even remembers her hair color ("salt and pepper; she was a little ittybitty lady") and what she served them ("iced tea, good and sweet"). Most of all, he remembers that moment when Larry Bird looked him straight in the eye for the first time and didn't say a word. "You can tell when you've sold somebody something," Hodges says. "I knew I had hit a home run. I figured it was time to go and let that soak in."

As Hodges started to wind down the visit, Evans became more involved in the conversation. He pressed Larry on whether he wanted to go to school and play basketball. As Larry continued to put them off, Evans grew impatient. "What are you going to do, work on a garbage truck the rest of your life?" he asked.

"I don't know, it's a pretty good job," Larry said. "I like it."

By now, Hodges knew he needed to get both of them out of there. He thanked Granny Kerns, suggested to Larry that he think about it, and said good-bye. When he and Evans got back into their car, Evans figured the visit had been for naught. "We're wasting our time with this kid," he said. "Anybody who'd rather work on a garbage truck than go to college isn't smart enough to play for us."

Had Hodges agreed with that assessment, it is likely that Larry Bird would never have played college basketball, much less in the NBA. Instead, Hodges kept up his pursuit, even though his experiences recruiting out of small Indiana rural communities had taught him the odds could be long. "A number of those kids just stay down there and wilt on the vine," Hodges says. "I'm not talking about French Lick. I'm talking about southern Indiana. A hell of a lot of good players never make it out of their town."

Another complication was that Larry couldn't come to Indiana State without an official release from Indiana University. Hodges got a form, filled it out, and addressed an envelope to the Indiana University basketball office. All he needed was Bird's signature. Hodges returned to French Lick a few days later, this time without Evans, who remained skeptical. "Here was a six-nine white kid who didn't show any interest in playing college basketball. How good could he be?" Evans says. "Kentucky passed over him. Bob Knight didn't show any effort to get him when he left Indiana. We needed players, and in my view one player who didn't want to come here was not the answer."

When Hodges stepped onto Georgia Bird's front porch this time, he got a much sweeter greeting. She told him Larry was home and immediately invited him inside. This is different, Hodges thought. What Hodges didn't realize was that Georgia Bird had wanted her son to go to Indiana State all along. "Larry was pressured into going to Indiana by people in town who wanted him to play in the Big Ten," she later recalled. "I was dying to say to Bobby Knight, 'Why don't you leave him alone, he doesn't want you,' but I never did. Then, when Coach Hodges came the next year, it was like an answer to a prayer, because I knew Larry had the talent but he wasn't using it. He was hanging around here, working for the town collecting garbage and painting park benches. But Larry wanted me to tell everybody he wasn't available, and I told Coach Hodges just that."

When Hodges came through the door and sat next to Larry in Georgia's living room, he showed Larry the release form. "How did you know I was thinking about coming?" Larry asked.

"I didn't," Hodges said. "But I know this is the best thing for you, and you're smart enough to make a good decision." Hodges explained that the release didn't commit Larry to coming to Indiana State; it just gave him the option. Larry signed.

After visiting for a while, Hodges told Larry he'd be back again soon. When he got up to leave, Larry followed him outside and said he had a question. If he came to Indiana State, could Hodges get him a summer job so he could go up there right away? Hodges assured him something could be worked out.

The next time Hodges came to town was on a day Bird was supposed to play for an independent team against a group of Indiana high school all-stars. Hodges drove into French Lick and found Larry putting up some hay. Despite several hours of rigorous work under a blistering sun, Larry went out that night and scored 43 points and grabbed 25 rebounds before fouling out.

Hodges had also learned that Tony Clark, one of Larry's former teammates at Springs Valley, was a sophomore at Indiana State. So he called Clark and asked if he'd go with him to watch one of Larry's AAU games. They went to the town of Mitchell, where Clark was amazed at how much his old friend had improved. "Oh, he looked good. He was six-nine, same passer as always, just phenomenal," Clark recalls. After a few more trips, Clark sensed that Hodges's pleasant persistence was starting to pay off. "Bill had a real good personality to fit Larry," Clark says. "He had that small-town understanding of what it took to motivate him. He definitely had a caring for Larry as an individual. He wanted Larry to get a degree, and it showed."

As Hodges pressed his case for Bird to visit Terre Haute, Larry kept trying to convince Hodges to recruit his buddy Kevin Carnes instead. So Hodges invited Larry to bring Kevin with him, and he would set up a scrimmage against the Indiana State varsity. Larry, who was always up for a challenge, readily agreed. So he grabbed Carnes and Mark Bird, Larry's brother, and the three of them headed for an overnight visit to Indiana State.

When the trio arrived at the gym, they were wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes. Hodges offered to get them some basketball gear, but they declined. They were used to playing in jeans, even if they were running outdoors in the dead of summer. Hodges offered a second time to get them shorts and basketball sneakers, but they again said that's okay; they'd just as soon play in their jeans.

So Hodges assigned them a couple of teammates and told them to have fun. Though he was technically forbidden by NCAA rules from watching, Hodges stood in a corner doorway and caught the action. He was astounded. The boys from French Lick absolutely drilled his varsity, game after game after game. Even Kevin Carnes, who had played on Larry's AAU team, was struck by how easily Bird dominated the competition. "When you're from a small community, you never know how you're going to compete against people like that," Kevin Carnes says. "I mean, I was amazed. We didn't lose a game that day. That's the first time I realized he wouldn't be out of his league if he played in college."

Hodges was convinced that Carnes was good enough to play for Indiana State, too. He introduced Carnes to Bob King and showed him the on-campus housing for married students. Carnes enjoyed the visit (aside from the moment when Larry threw ice-cold water on him when he was in the shower). During a stroll around campus, Larry, Kevin, and Mark came upon the track and staged an impromptu highjumping contest. Still, Kevin was married with a child and felt that college wasn't for him.

Larry, on the other hand, was sold. He might not have been all that juiced about school, but he was very impressed that the Indiana State players stayed in Terre Haute all summer. He loved the idea of going up against quality competition every single day, something he couldn't do in French Lick. It was also critical for him to know that, unlike in Bloomington, he wouldn't be a stranger in a strange land. Though Carnes wasn't joining him, his good friend Tony Clark was already there. And Hodges was recruiting another childhood chum and former Springs Valley teammate, Danny King, from Cumberland Junior College in Tennessee.

At the end of the visit, Larry told Hodges he needed to go back to French Lick for a couple of days to get his things together, but he had decided to come to Indiana State. He had been given a second chance at a life outside of French Lick, and he wanted to take it. If he couldn't make it work, he'd have to run home again, maybe this time for good.

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