The charismatic and controversial Dennis Rodman, nicknamed ‘The Worm,’ was a professional NBA basketball player who played for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, LA Lakers and Dallas Mavericks, but he is most well-known for his successful stint with the Chicago Bulls where he played alongside Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan, winning three Championship rings in 1996, ’97 and ’98.
Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1961 to Shirley and Philander Rodman Jr, his father served in the Vietnam War. However, his father left his family and settled in the Philippines. Rodman didn’t see his father again until 2012.
It is unknown how many siblings Rodman has, but he has been quoted that he is the oldest of 47 children. According to his father, he has anywhere from 26-28 siblings. Rodman and two sisters he knew, Debra and Kim, grew up in Oak Cliff in Dallas — a poorer area of the city. During their schooling years, Rodman’s sisters were considered more athletic and even better basketball players than Dennis. Rodman was only 5 ft 6 inches in high school and failed to make any representative teams.
While working at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as a janitor, Rodman had a radical growth spurt and grew to 6 ft 7 inches. Rodman did a stint at North Central Texas College (formerly Cooke County College), and after transferring to South-Eastern Oklahoma State University, he gained the attention of the public following three successful seasons boasting impressive stats.
Rodman caught the attention of the Detroit Pistons after winning the MVP at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. In 1986, after being selected as the 27th overall pick in the NBA draft, Rodman’s basketball career kicked off with the Detroit Pistons.
After seven seasons, two rings and cementing himself as an incredible rebounder with the Pistons, in 1993, Rodman joined the San Antonio Spurs, who at the time were centred around All-Star David Robinson. Rodman’s time at the Spurs was met with no Championships and internal fighting between himself and the administration office – and marred by shoulder injuries.
In 1995 Rodman was traded to the Chicago Bulls to join forces with the Great Michael Jordan. In a three-year period from ’95–’98, the Bulls, dubbed as one of the greatest teams ever, won three straight Championships. Rodman’s success with the Bulls was seemingly tainted with several suspensions, troublemaking and controversies, but many people agree this just added to the outlandish character that was the NBA bad boy.
Here are some famous Dennis Rodman Stories:
Early on in Rodman’s NBA career, he would drive to downtown Detroit and hand out $100 bills to the homeless.
Many people claim Rodman had mentally checked out of his time at the Pistons towards the end — so much so that during a game, when he was on the bench, he took his shoes off and read a magazine.
Rodman claims that the late Chris Sager, an NBA sideline reporter, tracked him down to a strip club and delivered a heart-to-heart speech that talked him out of suicide.
Dennis was once late to a Spurs game because he was dying his hair with bleach.
In 1993, Rodman played three separate games where he grabbed over 24 rebounds and scored zero points.
He head butted the Spurs mascot, the Coyote, in a preseason game.
He was fined $50,000 for saying disrespectful remarks about Mormons.
He skipped practice during the 1998 Finals to attend the WCW event in Michigan, where he would appear alongside Hulk Hogan.
Received oral sex while doing a radio interview. He has also broken his penis three times.
In 2013, the Broward New Times reported that Rodman’s depressing post-NBA life was riddled with strip clubs all night, lots of coffee and sleeping for days at a time.
He had a two-month romantic relationship with Madonna and claimed she offered him $20 million to impregnate her.
The Bulls granted Rodman 48 hours downtime, so he took it by the horns and went on a 4-day rampage in Las Vegas with then-girlfriend Carmen Electra. Rumours are Michael Jordan hunted him down and dragged him out of his hotel room to get serious again with the Bulls.
There you have it…one of the most bizarre yet talented NBA players ever. In recent times, it’s evident Rodman didn’t have sound financial advice or healthy spending habits. The Richest claim his current net worth is approx. $-1 million.
He certainly isn’t the first wealthy athlete to blow his cash, check out how Mike Tyson lost North of $700 million over his career.