Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American retired NBA basketball player. He won three NBA championships in 1981, 1984, and 1986 with the Boston Celtics. He has also won the NBA MVP award three times, in 1984, 1985, and 1986 as a Celtic. He played college basketball at Indiana State University where he developed a rivalry and friendship with Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson when he faced him in the 1979 NCAA national championship game and three NBA championship series (1984, 1985 and 1987). He has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time. Bird was nicknamed Larry Legend and The Hick from French Lick, after his hometown in Indiana. He was also called Kodak by his first NBA coach, Bill Fitch, because Bird could form pictures in his head of the plays on the basketball court. Finally, he was nicknamed The Great White Hope.