Larry Bird is one of the NBA’s greatest forwards of all time. Standing at 6 feet 9 inches, the Boston Celtics legend was one of the toughest players of the 1980s. He was also an exemplary leader who led by action and won 3 NBA championships (1981, 1984, and 1986) for the Boston Celtics organization.

In a recent podcast episode, a former NBA star recalls an incident when Larry Bird stood up for him when he was being hazed.

How Larry Bird put an end to the coach’s name-calling drama

In a recent episode of “The 85 South Comedy Show”, Indiana Pacers veteran Shawne Williams tells the story of how Larry Bird came to his rescue during his time as the Pacers’ ‘President of basketball operations.’

Shawne Williams talks about how Larry Bird had “hand-picked” him to play for the Indiana Pacers. He then recalls the one time when Rick Carlisle, the then coach of Indiana Pacers, called him a racial slur.

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He further says, “When I get there (Pacers’ practice), your hand and sh*t get rusty. Knee caps rusty, hands rusty and sh*t. So, they gave me the nickname “We gonna call you ‘Ghetto’ dawg.” So the nickname had took onto me for a minute. When we were at practice once, Rick Carlisle called me that sh*t.”

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Williams then talks about Larry Bird’s reaction to what Rick Carlisle had just said. The former Indiana Pacers player says, “I looked up at Larry, cause he would sit in all the practices, and his face was red as a motherf*****!”

Larry Bird then calls both Rick Carlisle and Shawne Williams to his office after practice. He then gives an earful to the coach in front of the young Pacers star and then tells the coach to never repeat such a thing again. He also tells Shawne Williams to never be okay with nicknames like that.

The word ‘ghetto’ is frequently used in a negative context culturally. So, Larry Bird standing up for young Shawne Willams was certainly the right thing to do.

Larry Bird’s stint as an NBA coach and team president

Despite retiring in 1992, Larry Bird still had close ties with the NBA. He was the poster boy for the league for quite some time and also one of the league’s most decorated players.

Larry Bird was brought in as the Head Coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000, despite having no prior coaching experience. After the Pacers’ exemplary performance in the 1997-1998 NBA season, he was named the ‘NBA Coach of the Year’. Under his leadership, the Indiana Pacers even reached the NBA Finals against the Lakers in 2000.

In 2003, Larry Bird was hired as the ‘President of Basketball Operations’ in the Indiana Pacers organization. During his 14-year-long tenure as the president, he was also named the ‘NBA Executive of the Year’ in 2012. This incredible feat made him the only person in all of NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

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What are your thoughts on Shawne Williams’s story of Larry Bird standing up for him as the Indiana Pacers’ president? Comment below!