INDIANAPOLIS - Larry Bird made the decision last year.

After nearly 40 years in the NBA, he started plotting an exit strategy.

On Monday, the 60-year-old Hall-of-Famer finally told the rest of the world he was stepping down as Indiana's president of basketball operations, turning the reins over to Kevin Pritchard.

"Maybe when I turn 70, I'll come back," Bird joked. "But right now, my wife is happy. She's been on this run since I was a sophomore in college."

It has been a run of legend.

Bird's story is well known to millions - the small-town prep star who led Indiana State to the 1979 NCAA championship game against Magic Johnson, won three MVP Awards and three NBA titles in Boston, and then helped the Dream Team capture Olympic gold for the US in 1992.

In August 1992, the man nicknamed "Larry Legend" and "The Hick from French Lick" retired as a player but remained with the Celtics as a special assistant until the Pacers offered him their head coaching post in 1997-98.

Bird took the Pacers to the Eastern Conference final three straight times and was named the league's coach of the year in his debut season.

A heart ailment prompted him to follow through on another promise - that he would only coach three seasons. He walked away weeks after Indiana lost to the Lakers in the 2000 Finals.

Three years later, a rejuvenated and healthier Bird returned to the team as president.

This time, he put together teams that went to three more conference finals and earned him the NBA's executive of the year award in 2011-12.

Bird is the only person in league history to earn an MVP Award and be named the coach and executive of the year. But he couldn't bring an NBA title to Indiana.

Bird explained how he informed team owner Herb Simon last summer that he had signed his final contract to run the team.

Afterwards, he summoned two confidantes into his office - Pritchard and Peter Dinwiddie, the Pacers' vice-president of basketball operations - and repeated the message.

It's the second time in five years Bird has given up Indiana's top front-office job, and it won't be easy for Pritchard to replace an icon like Bird in a basketball-mad state like Indiana.

Associated Press