Official Fan Club of Larry Bird makes pilgrimage to Terre Haute, French Lick

Jul. 24—Terre Haute is where Larry Bird began his legendary collegiate basketball career at Indiana State University, followed by his acclaimed professional career with the Boston Celtics in the NBA.

It's that history that attracted members of "The Official Fan Club of Larry Bird" to Terre Haute this weekend. Eighteen members of the club, limited to 250 members, toured the city, with a slated visited to French Lick on Saturday. Many in the club where in their mid-teens when they first watched televised games of Bird on the basketball court in the 1980s.

Arron Bick and his older brother, Ed Bick, both from Rockford, Illinois, arrived Friday for the fan club weekend, including a visit to the 15-foot tall bronze statue of Bird in front of ISU's Hulman Center.

"I love everything; there is nothing you can't like about him," Arron Brick said of Bird. "I have been a fan of him since I was 9 years old," said the 44-year-old.

"I watched the championships in the mid 1980s. I loved everything about him, his style, his attitude, his mentality, his work ethic," he said. "Coming here and seeing the (Bird) statue and Terre Haute in general — just experiencing 'the legend.' I have been in the club about a year, but every time they have a trip, I will be there," Arron Bick said.

Arron admitted he had more of an obsession for the basketball great while in high school.

"We went to small private (high) school back (in Rockford) called Faith Academy and I emulated everything Larry Bird, from the jersey number and shoes. Mom and dad would buy them for me," he said. His emulation included even "socks, and the way (Bird) shot. I watched tapes, go out (to the basketball court) and practice. Then go back in and watch it again, then go back out (to the courts) for hours at a time.

"I had my hair long because of him. I had a mullet," Arron said as he broke into a big laugh. "I wrote my name with number 33 afterward. It was more of an obsession for a while, maybe a little creepy," he said.

His brother, Ed Bick, was interested in the mechanics of making such a large statue, something sculptor Bill Wolfe, who designed and built the monument, knows from top to bottom. Wolfe detailed to Ed Bick how the statue was formed of bronze.

"Mr. Wolfe is definitely a great artist," Ed Bick said. "I understand now the detail that Mr. Wolfe had done and the jump shot (of Bird) is in perfect form," he said. "I have loved Larry Bird as a fan (since he was a teenager) and this takes me back to a good time, an easy time. Life was innocent (as a young boy) and life was simpler back then. Now it is a little complicated, but this is like going back to being 12 or 13 with my little brother," Ed said of the club's trip to Terre Haute.

Sheree Folkens, president of the club, said members would travel Saturday to the southern Indiana town of French Lick. While Bird was born in West Baden Springs, he was raised in nearby French Lick.

"We will meet at the high school. We have permission to go to Larry's old home and play basketball on the famous court, which is great," Folkens said. "Then we are going to meet at 33 Brick Street (a sports-themed family-owned restaurant in French Lick) for lunch where we have a special guest meeting us — coach (Jim) Jones," Bird's former high school coach at Springs Valley High School, she said.

"He will then take us over to the high school and let us in," Folkens said. "A few people (in the club) have not been to French Lick or to Terre Haute, so it is a really big thing."

Wolfe said he intends to give a portion of the original model form used to make the bronze Larry Bird statue to 33 Brick Street restaurant.

"I had it laying around the studio for eight years and it was looking a little rough, so I patched it up in some areas and I thought I could put a base on it," Wolfe said. "It is the right leg, from the top eight inches of the high sock and up to Larry's knee. Two other guys, Andy Arlington and Harlan Todd, actually club members, own the feet," he said.

"They walked out of my studio really proud to own a piece of it," Wolfe said.

Starting the Larry Bird club

Club president Folkens, who works as a nurse, lives about 20 minutes outside of Houston, Texas, in a small town named Needville.

"I started the fan club back in 1999. I have a really good friend, Brian Scott Smith, that used to work a lot with Larry Bird, doing all of his private signings for memorabilia," Folkens said.

"He sponsored us and the fan club took off, at that time, as LarryLegend.com and Larry approved of the fan club," she said.

"Over the years things change and times change, so I kind of made it into a private Facebook group, called The Official Fan Club of Larry Bird. We have members that have been with me for over 20 years and are just the greatest people," Folkens said.

Folkens said she limits the club's membership at 250 members.

"The reason why I do that is because you see fan club (web) pages which have thousands and thousands of people, but they don't have what we have, which is we are like family," Folkens said. "We just like Larry and respect Larry because of his basketball accomplishments, but we also respect the whole person.

"We don't want this (club) to be commercialized. We are not trying to sell things or buy things," Folkens said. "The members, we love each other, and love Mr. Bird and his family. We celebrate his family birthdays, his mother's, his father's, just a loving group," she said.

Folkens said club members are from across the United States as well as some from overseas.

"I have a couple of people coming from Boston," this year to Terre Haute. Overseas members include some from Barcelona, Spain, where Bird played in the 1992 Olympics, with Team USA winning the gold medal.

"We share stories and pictures," she said of the club and has trivia contests and random drawings with Bird memorabilia as prizes.

"We came here (to Terre Haute) because this is were we can related to him," she said of Bird. "It is not that we are looking to find Larry Bird, because we are not, but the presence of Bird here is great," she said, adding the group plans to return once a Larry Bird Museum opens at the Terre Haute Convention Center.

Folkens herself became a Bird fan at age 14.

"I watching Indiana State (University) in the (NCAA) playoff and I see this blonde-hair boy making all these points. I was like, 'Mom, who is that? He is awesome.' My mom said it was Larry Bird. After that, while I am not a fanatical person ... over the years was always a fan and never waivered.

"I watched Bird with the (Boston) Celtics beat the (Houston) Rockets in the (1981 NBA Championship) in the Summit (in Houston, Texas).

"It was his first NBA championship. I was the only one there in my section in Larry Bird gear," she said. "Every time he touched the ball, the crowd would go 'Oh no,'" she said with a chuckle.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.