Larry Bird and Shawn Kemp

Sports Memery had this banger about Larry Bird and Shawn Kemp:

Few people know the connection between Larry Bird and Shawn Kemp.

At age 33, Bird discovered that teenage phenom Shawn Kemp had shattered all his high school records.

Sources say Bird stormed out of a Celtics practice after a Indiana headline read: "NEW PRIDE OF INDIANA? SHAWN KEMP ERASES BIRD FROM THE BOOKS.”

He was never the same.

In Fall of 1991, at 35, Larry Bird took NBA leave. He re-enrolled at Spring Valley High as a "super senior."

Coach Jeff Roundtree recalled, "We thought he was just here to inspire...

Then he pulled out a 47-page scouting report on our SF... and said, ‘I can cook this boy with a broken femur.’"

Thus began the most disturbing season in Indiana HS BB history. Bird, number 33, averaged 89.6 points and led the state in flagrant fouls. His 2.6 assists were all passes to himself off defenders' faces.

He attended classes, joined drama club, and escorted a 60 year old woman to prom... later confirmed as Shawn Kemp’s Aunt Beatrice.

Bird not only reclaimed his records, he obliterated them.

Against Kemp’s alma mater, Concord High, Bird scored 143 points, hired a NJ heckling crew, and led a midcourt Kemp jersey burning while blaring Kenny Loggins.

He sent Kemp a VHS of the game labeled: “Daddy Returns.”

The next NBA season, Bird’s first matchup against Kemp was electric.

Reporters described Bird whispering vivid, unsettling details about Aunt Beatrice's "sexual re-awakening" whenever he posted up.

Former Celtic Dee Brown said, "He had photos. Polaroids. One was from Kemp’s childhood home where he threw an after-prom party after purchasing the property before burning it to the ground."

Bird dropped 40 points.

Aunt Beatrice was courtside, wearing a custom Celtics jersey: #33, nameplate “Bird’s Nest.”

To this day, Shawn Kemp refuses to talk about that game. But if you watch the replays, every time Bird scores over Kemp, he mouths:

“I'm your Uncle Larry now.”

Written on July 05, 2025