Larry Bird’s teammate Bill Walton shared an epic story about the Boston Celtics legend where he made a unique deal with a restaurant owner.
In his book, ‘Back from the Dead’, he recollected a story when a restaurant owner wanted Bird to do an advertisement which the latter repeatedly turned down.
But the owner, reportedly named Harry wouldn’t take no for an answer and continued to reach out to Bird. “Finally one day, Larry said, ‘OK. I’ll do it,’” Walton wrote. “ … When they came to talk price, Larry said that he didn’t want anything for the deal.”
“Harry was stunned. Larry said that the only thing that he wanted was for each of his teammates — there were eleven of us– … to be able to come into the Scotch ‘n Sirloin anytime, bring their families, and eat for free — but that we would all leave a cash tip, and if the tip wasn’t big enough, to be sure and tell Larry, and he would take care of it.”
Walton also added that the Celtics made ample use of the deal. He wrote that Rick Carlisle even ate “every meal there all season long.”
“We went there all the time,” Walton wrote. “After almost every game, the whole team would go to this very nice restaurant just down the street and eat and drink all night long. Each player and their family would have their own table. And at the end of the night, Larry would quietly check to make sure that the plates were clean and the tip was the right size.”
Trust Bird, known to be one of the more intense trash-talkers on the court, to be an absolute gentleman off of it.
Larry Bird’s Reluctance To Become A Billboard Figure Showed His Modesty And Simplicity
Not the one for extravagant fame, Bird’s quiet demeanor off the court and his reluctance to not be in the limelight showed his simplicity as a person.
His high school coach, Jim Jones called him a shy kid. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, “he gets embarrassed when people make a fuss over him. You have to understand him,”
Bird’s NBA greatness was something he never threw around, and his coach’s words and his restaurant deal are prime examples.
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