SportsLit (Season 9, Episode 5) - Randy Mills (Retd. Prof. Oakland City University) - As if by Magic, The Story of Larry Bird’s Indiana High School Basketball Days

As one of the greatest NBA players of all-time, Larry Bird’s life has been covered extensively.

Out of common roots in midwestern basketball and out of a passion for regional history, Randy Mills (Retd. Prof. Oakland City University) mines Larry Legend’s origin story.

In doing so, he presents the fervent foundation for the sport that existed in Bird’s home state of Indiana, using it as a base to focus specifically on the machinations of his high school basketball playing days for the Spring Valley Blackhawks from 1972-1974. 

Utilizing archived stories from local reporters and tapping into a lived experience with the subject matter, Mills arrives at his latest release in a line of publications that study the midwestern United States.