Heartland - by Keith O'Brien (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the New York Times bestselling author of Charlie Hustle and Fly Girls comes one of America's greatest sports stories: the improbable rise of Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores.

In the fall 1974, Larry Bird--one of the greatest players to ever pick up a basketball--was lost, and in danger of slipping away.

He had dropped out of Indiana University, spurning legendary Hoosiers head coach Bobby Knight. He returned home to French Lick, a tiny town in the second poorest county in Indiana, and he got a job hauling trash.

It could have ended right there for Bird, were it not for two men: Bob King, an old coach with bad knees, and Bill Hodges, a man who knew what it was like to be poor and overlooked. In the spring of 1975, during one of the darkest chapters of Bird's life, King and Hodges convinced Bird to leave French Lick and play basketball at Indiana State University, a college that couldn't even fill its arena, much less compete with Bobby Knight. Then, while no one was watching, King and Hodges built a team of players around Bird who were just like him: they were castoffs and leftovers, ready to work.

Four years later, in March 1979, this unheralded team would put together one of the greatest seasons in American sports history. By the time it was over, more than 50 million people would tune in to watch the Indiana State Sycamores play in the NCAA finals against Magic Johnson and Michigan State.

What happened that night would change college basketball and the NBA. Perhaps more importantly, it would change the members of this hardscrabble team, binding them together forever. In some ways, their one shining moment would never end.

Drawing on exclusive, in-depth interviews with players, coaches, and staffers, New York Times bestselling author and PEN American Literary Award-winning biographer Keith O'Brien offers a stirring account of the mighty Indiana State Sycamores. With its unforgettable ensemble cast, Heartland is more than just a sports book. It's the story of a group of young men who achieved the greatest feat of all: immortality.

Review Quotes

"The definitive chronicle of the Sycamores' run over the three years that Bird captained the team.... Heartland fires on all cylinders because it is incredibly well-researched.... What is wonderful about Heartland is how I found myself cheering for Bird."
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"For hoop heads, Heartland is a deeper look at a player we think we already know. For college basketball fans, it's a reminder of what made the sport's best underdog stories so powerful in the first place. Not just a star rising, but context: Towns, coaches, teammates, timing and belief."
--Slam

"Skillful writers like Mr. O'Brien know how to find the tributaries where rich, untold material lies waiting to be excavated. Along with being the biography of a man, Heartland is the tale of a time long before transfer portals; before name, image and likeness deals. It's a portrait of a team assembled from spare parts and one generational talent that somehow made it all the way to the Big Game."
--The Wall Street Journal

"A meticulously researched yet utterly enthralling account... [a] must-have sports title."
--Booklist (starred review)

"A smart, well-paced narrative...[O'Brien's] journalistic legwork yields colorful specifics...Expertly told."
--Kirkus

"Keith O'Brien turns the mind-boggling rise of the 1978-79 Indiana State basketball team into a grand epic, with Larry Bird as the Heartland's Odysseus. As he did with Pete Rose in Charlie Hustle, O'Brien makes complicated characters come alive."
--Joe Posnanski, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Love Baseball

"There are few names in American public life that summon the kind of indomitable rural midwestern power and stoicism as the name Larry Bird. Just say it out loud. Larry. Bird. You know I'm talking about something like granite. Keith O'Brien's book carries that same power, maybe by some sort of transference, as it chronicles what it was like to become a symbol for an entire vanishing way of life. I love this book."
--Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of Pappyland and The Barn

"Keith O'Brien's Heartland is a wonderfully entertaining and meticulously researched look at one of the most intriguing and important basketball stories of the past 50 years: the rise of the great and mysterious Larry Bird. It's a fascinating portrait of a time and place in which a uniquely small-town Midwestern hero becomes a national phenomenon, riveting the sports world and changing the NBA forever."
--Christine Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women's Sports

"In Heartland, Keith O'Brien finds the true heart of the Larry Bird origin story, from his hardscrabble upbringing in rural Indiana to the brink of superstardom in the most significant NCAA championship game. It's a supremely compelling and empathetic portrait of one of the most guarded and inscrutable icons of American sports."
--Steve James, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and director of Hoop Dreams

"Larry Bird isn't real. Or is he? Keith O'Brien's Heartland offers the best exploration yet of this rare and strange hoop legend's origin. An unforgettable and almost unbelievable story, deeply researched and beautifully written."
--Jonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life and author of Ali: A Life

"Keith O'Brien's Heartland takes us inside the tiny towns and homespun culture that gave the basketball world one of its treasures: Larry Bird. Incredibly researched, Heartland had me feeling like I was on the Springs Valley team bus with Larry and Beezer Carnes. Or maybe having a couple of 25-cent Budweisers with Joey Bird at the Jubil."
--Dan Shaughnessy, author of Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics

About the Author

Keith O'Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of Charlie Hustle, Paradise Falls, Fly Girls, and Outside Shot. He has won the 2025 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography; has been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports writing; and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, NPR, and This American Life. A native of Ohio, he lives in New Hampshire.