Larry Bird was an Indiana University, coach Bob Knight basketball dropout. He was back home in French Lick working as an 18-year-old garbage truck driver.
He was behind the French Lick Springs Resort shooting hoops with the cooking staff that spring day in 1975. Out of college ball, that’s where Bird got his basketball fix, practicing his game with the kitchen crew.
A cluster of bushes grew back by that basketball goal. And, unbeknownst to Bird, there was a man in those bushes watching, a man named Bill Hodges.
Hodges was a college basketball coach down on his luck. He was coming off a job as an assistant at Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia. His dreams of being a big-time coach seemed unlikely at best. Until he concocted an idea: Larry Bird.
Bird was available.
Hodges packed a suitcase, tossed it in the back of his rundown Dodge Dart and turned to his wife, Connie. “If I don’t make this work, then you have my word,” he told her. “No more basketball. I’ll sell insurance, or cars, or whatever it takes to keep a roof over our heads.”
He drove from Georgia to French Lick to find Bird, to try to convince him to play for Hodges, who would be an assistant at Indiana State.
A day with Indiana State basketball::How you rebuild a D-1 program basically from scratch
The story of Bird’s college career is woven into basketball lore now, of Bird going undefeated in the regular season at Indiana State in 1979, leading his team to the NCAA finals and losing to a Magic Johnson-led Michigan State.
COLLEGE
The untold story of how Indiana State coach Bill Hodges persuaded Larry Bird to play for him
Dana Hunsinger Benbow
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2021. Some references may be out of date.
Larry Bird was an Indiana University, coach Bob Knight basketball dropout. He was back home in French Lick working as an 18-year-old garbage truck driver.
He was behind the French Lick Springs Resort shooting hoops with the cooking staff that spring day in 1975. Out of college ball, that’s where Bird got his basketball fix, practicing his game with the kitchen crew.
A cluster of bushes grew back by that basketball goal. And, unbeknownst to Bird, there was a man in those bushes watching, a man named Bill Hodges.
Hodges was a college basketball coach down on his luck. He was coming off a job as an assistant at Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia. His dreams of being a big-time coach seemed unlikely at best. Until he concocted an idea: Larry Bird.
Bird was available.
Indiana State coach Bill Hodges yells to his team as Larry Bird takes a breather in the late moments of the Indiana State win over Oklahoma in the Midwest Regional NCAA tourney game March 15, 1979. Bird scored 29 points with 15 rebounds as the team kept its unbeaten streak going.
Hodges packed a suitcase, tossed it in the back of his rundown Dodge Dart and turned to his wife, Connie. “If I don’t make this work, then you have my word,” he told her. “No more basketball. I’ll sell insurance, or cars, or whatever it takes to keep a roof over our heads.”
He drove from Georgia to French Lick to find Bird, to try to convince him to play for Hodges, who would be an assistant at Indiana State.
A day with Indiana State basketball::How you rebuild a D-1 program basically from scratch
The story of Bird’s college career is woven into basketball lore now, of Bird going undefeated in the regular season at Indiana State in 1979, leading his team to the NCAA finals and losing to a Magic Johnson-led Michigan State.
But how did Bird end up at Indiana State? Did Hodges emerge from the bushes that day? How did Hodges persuade a stubborn introvert to give basketball another shot?
“Wouldn’t that make a great movie?” Patrick Wood said, laughing.
Indeed, it would. And that movie is in the works.
Wood, along with Steve Zukerman, two Indiana natives with star-laden careers in Hollywood, are in the midst of making a movie about the untold story of how Hodges persuaded Bird to play for him
The “Untitled French Lick Project” — yet to be named — will be filmed in Indiana and Georgia this spring. The finished movie will be a sports drama, a film that conjures up the same emotions as “Hoosiers,” “Rudy” and “Rocky,” Wood says.
But this movie isn’t the story of Larry Bird. Wood and Zukerman want to make that clear. This is the story of Bill Hodges.
“Getting Bird, this was Hodges’ Hail Mary,” said Wood, writer and director of the film. “This was his last chance at greatness.”
Somehow, Hodges got to Bird
Hodges was from Zionsville and went to Purdue. In the spring of 1975, he was a 30-something who had spent the past 10 years as an assistant basketball coach at Marian, Tennessee Tech and Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia.
He and his wife, Connie, had a toddler daughter.
“He was not happy with his life, the life they had,” Wood said. Connie was a nurse and Hodges had moved his family around for a coaching career too many times for their liking.
When Hodges went to Indiana State coach Bob King with his idea to recruit Bird, he had no idea how he would do it. But Hodges knew he had to.
He made his way to French Lick with the sole mission of getting Bird to play for him. If he did, he would jump from a lower-level program in Georgia to Division I at Indiana State.
COLLEGE
The untold story of how Indiana State coach Bill Hodges persuaded Larry Bird to play for him
Dana Hunsinger Benbow
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2021. Some references may be out of date.
Larry Bird was an Indiana University, coach Bob Knight basketball dropout. He was back home in French Lick working as an 18-year-old garbage truck driver.
He was behind the French Lick Springs Resort shooting hoops with the cooking staff that spring day in 1975. Out of college ball, that’s where Bird got his basketball fix, practicing his game with the kitchen crew.
A cluster of bushes grew back by that basketball goal. And, unbeknownst to Bird, there was a man in those bushes watching, a man named Bill Hodges.
Hodges was a college basketball coach down on his luck. He was coming off a job as an assistant at Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia. His dreams of being a big-time coach seemed unlikely at best. Until he concocted an idea: Larry Bird.
Bird was available.
Indiana State coach Bill Hodges yells to his team as Larry Bird takes a breather in the late moments of the Indiana State win over Oklahoma in the Midwest Regional NCAA tourney game March 15, 1979. Bird scored 29 points with 15 rebounds as the team kept its unbeaten streak going.
Hodges packed a suitcase, tossed it in the back of his rundown Dodge Dart and turned to his wife, Connie. “If I don’t make this work, then you have my word,” he told her. “No more basketball. I’ll sell insurance, or cars, or whatever it takes to keep a roof over our heads.”
He drove from Georgia to French Lick to find Bird, to try to convince him to play for Hodges, who would be an assistant at Indiana State.
A day with Indiana State basketball::How you rebuild a D-1 program basically from scratch
The story of Bird’s college career is woven into basketball lore now, of Bird going undefeated in the regular season at Indiana State in 1979, leading his team to the NCAA finals and losing to a Magic Johnson-led Michigan State.
But how did Bird end up at Indiana State? Did Hodges emerge from the bushes that day? How did Hodges persuade a stubborn introvert to give basketball another shot?
“Wouldn’t that make a great movie?” Patrick Wood said, laughing.
Indeed, it would. And that movie is in the works.
Wood, along with Steve Zukerman, two Indiana natives with star-laden careers in Hollywood, are in the midst of making a movie about the untold story of how Hodges persuaded Bird to play for him.
The “Untitled French Lick Project” — yet to be named — will be filmed in Indiana and Georgia this spring. The finished movie will be a sports drama, a film that conjures up the same emotions as “Hoosiers,” “Rudy” and “Rocky,” Wood says.
But this movie isn’t the story of Larry Bird. Wood and Zukerman want to make that clear. This is the story of Bill Hodges.
“Getting Bird, this was Hodges’ Hail Mary,” said Wood, writer and director of the film. “This was his last chance at greatness.”
Somehow, Hodges got to Bird
Hodges was from Zionsville and went to Purdue. In the spring of 1975, he was a 30-something who had spent the past 10 years as an assistant basketball coach at Marian, Tennessee Tech and Armstrong State in Savannah, Georgia.
He and his wife, Connie, had a toddler daughter.
“He was not happy with his life, the life they had,” Wood said. Connie was a nurse and Hodges had moved his family around for a coaching career too many times for their liking.
Bill Hodges with wife Connie in 1979 during his best season as head coach at Indiana State.
When Hodges went to Indiana State coach Bob King with his idea to recruit Bird, he had no idea how he would do it. But Hodges knew he had to.
He made his way to French Lick with the sole mission of getting Bird to play for him. If he did, he would jump from a lower-level program in Georgia to Division I at Indiana State.
He had two weeks to persuade Bird to come to Terre Haute to play; the signing deadline was approaching. The movie takes place over a period of a week and a half as Hodges plots to land Bird.
“Bill thought he had a chance,” said Wood. “Bill grew up on a farm in Zionsville. Bill talks like a hick. Zionsville is not that far from French Lick and it felt like he could talk to him.”
But when Hodges got to French Lick, things were much tougher than he had envisioned, said Wood. The town was protecting Bird, whose father had died by suicide when Bird was 18.
They were protecting this basketball star who had made it to the premier college team at IU but, unexpectedly, quit. Some believed Bird left Bloomington because he was still grieving his dad’s death. Others thought the campus was too large. Others suspected he didn’t get along with Knight.
Nobody knew why he quit,” Wood said. “A lot of people assumed things. He was kind of a broken kid, in a way.”
Once he was back in French Lick, major colleges came calling on Bird, who was collecting garbage and mowing grass for the town.
“The college recruiters descended on Bird for a second time, but this time the whole town protected him,” Wood said. “They couldn’t find him. How hard could it be to find a 6-foot-9, blond-haired, blue-eyed guy?”