VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — You may know who Larry Bird is, and how he became a Hoosier legend. What you might not know, is what his life looked like before.

Local historian and author Randy Mills illustrates what Bird's high school life looked like in his book, "As if by Magic". Mills started off writing about the weight of war, but decided he wanted a change, so he dabbled in writing about basketball.

Mills immediately knew he wanted to continue writing on this topic and naturally, found Larry Bird as an appealing subject. Through 2 years of heavy research, countless newspaper studies, interviews with bird's family members, and more, Mills wrote his novel.

"Oh, it was just a privilege to be able to write this story. It's a real Hoosier story. It's a real middle America story," sai

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