Early life

Dennis Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey as the son of Shirley and Philander Rodman Jr., an Air Force pilot and veteran of the Vietnam War. When Dennis was 3, his father deserted his family and went on to eventually father 27 children from four different women. Rodman grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas, considered one of the worst areas in those times. While attending South Oak Cliff High School, he played under future Texas A&M coach Gary Blair. However, Rodman was not considered an athletic standout. According to himself, he was "unable to hit a layup" and was listed in the high school basketball teams, but was either benched or cut from the squads. Rodman also failed to make the football teams and was "totally devastated". A factor may have been his height as he measured only 5'6" as a freshman in high school and did not know how tall he was when he graduated in 1979. Rodman then worked as an overnight janitor at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, he grew from under 6 feet tall to 6'8" and decided to give basketball another shot.

A family friend tipped off the head coach of Cooke County College in Gainesville, Texas. In his single semester there, he averaged 17.6 points and 13.3 rebounds, before flunking out due to poor academic performances. Then, he transferred to Southeastern Oklahoma State. After his short stint in Gainesville, he played for Southeastern Oklahoma State University, an NAIA school. There, Rodman was a three-time NAIA All-American and led the NAIA in rebounding in both the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons. In three seasons there, 1983-84 through 1985-86, he averaged 25.7 points and 15.7 rebounds, led the NAIA in rebounding twice and registered a .637 field goal percentage. He also averaged over 25 points per game for his three-year NAIA career. At the Portsmouth Invitational, a pre-draft camp for NBA hopefuls, Rodman won Most Valuable Player honors and caught the attention of the Detroit Pistons.

Detroit Pistons

Rodman made himself eligible for the 1986 NBA Draft. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons as the 27th pick, joining a rugged team of coach Chuck Daly that was called "Bad Boys" for their hard-nosed approach to basketball. The squad featured Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars at the guard positions, Adrian Dantley and Sidney Green at forward, and the starting five was completed by center Bill Laimbeer. Bench players who played more than 15 minutes per game were sixth man Vinnie Johnson and the backup forwards Rick Mahorn and John Salley. Rodman fit well into this ensemble, providing 6.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and some tough defense in 15.0 minutes of playing time per game. Winning 52 games, the Pistons comfortably entered the 1987 NBA Playoffs. They swept the Washington Bullets and soundly beat the Atlanta Hawks in 5 games, but then bowed out in 7 against their archrivals Boston Celtics in what was called one of the physically and mentally toughest series ever. Rodman feuded with Celtics guard Dennis Johnson, taunting him in the closing seconds by waving his right hand over his head. When the Celtics took Game 7, Johnson went back at Rodman in the last moments of the game and mimicked his taunting gesture. After the loss, Rodman made headlines by insinuating that Celtics star Larry Bird was overrated because he was white: "Larry Bird is overrated in a lot of areas. ...Why does he get so much publicity? Because he's white. You never hear about a black player being the greatest." Although team mate Thomas supported him, endured harsh criticism, but avoided being called a racist because his own girlfriend Anicka "Annie" Bakes was white.

In the following 1987-88 season Rodman steadily improved his stats, averaging 11.6 points and 8.7 rebounds and starting in 32 of 82 regular season games. The Pistons fought their way into the 1988 NBA Finals, and took a 3-2 lead, but lost in 7 games against the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 6, the Pistons were down by 1 with 8 seconds to go; Dumars missed a shot, and Rodman just fell short of an offensive rebound and a putback which could have won the title. In Game 7, L.A. led by 15 in the fourth quarter, but Rodman's defense helped cut down the lead to six with 3:52 to go and to two with one minute to go. But then, Rodman fouled Magic Johnson, who hit a free throw, then missed an ill-advised shot with 39 seconds to go, and the Pistons never recovered. Still, the season ended on a positive note, because his girlfriend Annie bore him a daughter named Alexis.

After this disappointment, Rodman entered the 1988-89 season. Still coming off the bench, he averaged 9 points and 9 rebounds in 26 minutes, providing such effective defense that he was voted into the All-Defensive Team, the first of eight times. In that season, the Pistons finally vanquished their playoffs bane by sweeping the Boston Celtics, winning in six games versus the Chicago Bulls of scoring champion Michael Jordan and easily defeating the Lakers with 4-0 in the 1989 NBA Finals. Although he was hampered by back spasms, Rodman dominated the boards, grabbing 19 rebounds in Game 3 and providing tough interior defense.

In the 1989-90 season, Detroit lost perennial defensive forward Rick Mahorn due to the expansion draft of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Although it was feared that the loss of Mahorn - mediocre in talent, but high on hustle and widely considered a vital cog of the "Bad Boys" teams - would diminish the Pistons' spirit, but Rodman seamlessly took over his role. He went on to win his first big individual accolade. Averaging 9 points and 10 rebounds and starting in 43 regular season games, Rodman established himself as the best defensive player in the game and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award; he also connected on a .595 field goal percentage, which also made him the most precise shooter of the league. In the 1990 NBA Playoffs, the Pistons beat the Bulls again, and in the 1990 NBA Finals, Detroit met the Portland Trail Blazers. Rodman suffered from an injured ankle and was often replaced by Mark Aguirre, but also without his defensive hustle, Detroit beat Portland in 5 games and claimed their second title.

After winning his second ring, Rodman entered the 1990-91 season. Now finally starting in 77 regular season games, he averaged 8.2 points and 12.5 rebounds and won his second Defensive Player of the Year Award. In the 1991 NBA Playoffs however, the Pistons were swept by the championship-winning Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals. It was the 1991-92 season where Rodman made a remarkable leap in his rebounding, collecting an astounding 18.7 rebounds (1,530 in total), winning his first of seven consecutive rebounding crowns, along with scoring 9.8 points per game, and made his first All-NBA Team. His 1,530 rebounds have never been surpassed since then; the best mark not set by Rodman is credited to Kevin Willis, who grabbed 1,258 in 1992-93. In a March 1992 game, he totaled a career high 34 total rebounds. However, the aging Pistons were eliminated by the upcoming New York Knicks in the First Round of the 1992 NBA Playoffs. Rodman went into another emotional tailspin when coach Chuck Daly resigned in May, who he had admired as a surrogate father; Rodman skipped the preseason camp and was fined $68,000. The following 1992-93 season was even more tumultuous. He finally married Annie Bakes in September 1992, the mother of his four year old daughter Alexis, but the marriage ran afoul quickly and Bakes divorced him in December. The Pistons won only 40 games and missed the 1993 NBA Playoffs entirely. One night in May 1993, Rodman was found asleep in his car with a loaded rifle. Four years later in his biography As Bad As I Wanna Be, he confessed having thought about suicide and described that night as an epiphany: "I decided that instead [of killing myself] I was gonna kill the impostor that was leading Dennis Rodman to a place he didn't want to go... So I just said, "I'm going to live my life the way I want to live it and be happy doing it." At that moment I tamed my whole life around. I killed the person I didn't want to be." Although he had three years and $11.8 million remaining on his contract, Rodman wanted a trade. He got his wish on October 1, 1993, when the Pistons dealt him to the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio Spurs

In the 1993-94 NBA season, Rodman joined a Spurs team which was built around perennial All-Star center David Robinson, with a supporting cast of forwards Dale Ellis, Willie Anderson and guard Vinnie Del Negro. On the hardwood, Rodman won his third straight rebounding title, averaging 17.3 boards per game along with a career-low 4.7 points, but yet another All-Defensive Team call-up. Living up to his promise of killing the "shy imposter" and "being himself" instead, Rodman also began to show first signs of bizarre behaviour: before the first game, he shaved his hair and dyed it blonde, which was followed up stints with red, purple, blue hair and a look inspired from the film Demolition Man. During the season, he headbutted Stacey King and John Stockton, refused to leave the hardwood once after being ejected, and had a highly-publicised two month affair with Madonna. The only player whom Rodman related to was reserve center Jack Haley, who won Rodman's trust by not being shocked after a visit to a gay bar. However, despite a 55-win season, Rodman and the Spurs did not survive the First Round of the 1994 NBA Playoffs and bowed out against the Utah Jazz in four games.

In the following 1994-95 NBA season, Rodman clashed with the Spurs front office. He was suspended for the first three games, then took a leave of absence on November 11, and was suspended again on December 7. He finally returned on December 10 after having missed 19 games. After joining the team, he suffered a shoulder separation in a motorcycle accident, limiting his season to 49 games. Normally, he would not have qualified for any season records for missing so many games, but by grabbing 823 rebounds, he just surpassed the 800-rebound limit for listing players and won his fourth straight rebounding title by averaging 16.8 boards per game and made the All-NBA Team. In the 1995 NBA Playoffs, the 62-win Spurs with freshly minted NBA Most Valuable Player Award winner Robinson entered the Western Conference Finals and were considered favorites against the reigning champions Houston Rockets who had only won 47 games; it was thought that Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon would have a hard time asserting himself versus Robinson and Rodman, who had both been voted into the NBA All-Defensive Teams. However, neither Robinson and Rodman, who had disrupted a playoffs game against the Lakers by sitting down on court, could not stop Olajuwon, who averaged 35.3 points against the elite defensive Spurs frontcourt, and helped eliminate the Spurs in six games.

Chicago Bulls

Prior to the 1995-96 NBA season, Rodman was traded to the Chicago Bulls of perennial scoring champion Michael Jordan for center Will Perdue and cash considerations to fill a large void at power forward left by Horace Grant, who left the Bulls prior to the 1994-95 season. Although the trade for the already 34-year old and volatile Rodman was considered a gamble at that time, the power forward quickly adapted to his new environment, also helped by the fact that his best friend Haley was also traded to the Bulls. Under coach Phil Jackson, Rodman scored 5.5 points and 14.9 rebounds per game, winning yet another rebounding title, and was part of the great Bulls team that won 72 of 82 regular season games, an all-time NBA record. About playing next to iconic Jordan and hard-working Pippen, Rodman said: "On the court, me and Michael are pretty calm and we can handle conversation. But as far as our lives go, I think he is moving in one direction and I'm going in the other. I mean, he's goin' north, I'm goin' south. And then you've got Scottie Pippen right in the middle. He's sort of the equator." Although struggling with calf problems early in the season, Rodman grabbed 20 or more rebounds 11 times and had his first triple-double against the Minnesota Timberwolves in which he scored 10 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists; by playing his trademark tough defense, he joined Jordan and Scottie Pippen in the All-NBA Defense First Team, making it the first time that three team mates made the team of the best defenders. Ever controversial, Rodman made negative headlines after a head butt of referee Ted Bernhardt during a game in New Jersey on March 16, 1996. In the 1996 NBA Playoffs, Rodman scored 7.5 points and grabbed 13.7 rebounds per game and had a large part in the six-game victory against the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals: in Game 2, Rodman grabbed 20 rebounds, among them a record-equalising 11 offensive boards, and in Game 6, the power forward secured 19 rebounds and again 11 offensive boards, scored 5 points in a decisive 12-2 Bulls run, unnerved opposing power forward Shawn Kemp and caused Seattle coach George Karl to say: "As you evaluate the series, Dennis Rodman won two basketball games. We controlled Dennis Rodman for four games. But Game 2 and tonight, he was the reason they were successful." His two games with 11 offensive rebounds each tied the NBA Finals record of Elvin Hayes.

In the 1996-97 NBA season, Rodman won his sixth rebounding title en bloc with 16.7 boards per game, along with 5.7 points per game, but failed to rank another All-Defensive Team call-up. However, he made more headlines for his notorious behaviour: on January 15, 1997, Rodman was involved in another notorious incident during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. After tripping over cameraman Eugene Amos, Rodman kicked Amos in the groin. Though he was not assessed a technical foul at the time, Rodman ultimately paid Amos a $200,000 settlement, the league suspended Rodman for 11 games without pay, thus he effectively lost $1 million. Missing another three games to suspensions, often getting technical fouls early in games and missing an additional 13 matches due to knee problems, Rodman was not as effective in the 1997 NBA Playoffs, in which the Bulls reached the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. There, Rodman struggled to slow down Jazz power forward Karl Malone, but did his share to complete the six-game Bulls victory. It was also the time when Rodman seriously took up his hobby of professional wrestling: he appeared in World Championship Wrestling and as a member of nWo with his friend Hulk Hogan. His first match was at the July 1997 Bash at the Beach event where he teamed with Hogan in a loss to Lex Luger and The Giant.

The regular season of the 1997-98 NBA season ended with Rodman winning his seventh consecutive rebounding title with 15.0 boards per game, along with 4.7 points per game. He grabbed 20 or more rebounds 11 times, among them a 29-board outburst against the Atlanta Hawks and 15 offensive boards (along with 10 defensive) versus the Los Angeles Clippers. He also participated in one of the stranger games of the season, namely when Bubba Wells of the Dallas Mavericks committed six intentional fouls versus poor free throw shooter Rodman in under three minutes, setting a record for the fastest foul out in NBA history, to force him to hit free throws. Led by the aging Jordan and Rodman (respectively 34 and 36 years old), the Bulls reached the 1998 NBA Finals, again versus the Jazz. After playing strong defense on Karl Malone in the first three games, Rodman caused major consternation when he left his team prior to Game 4 to go wrestling with Hulk Hogan. He was fined $20,000, but it was not even 10 percent of what he earned with this stint. However, Rodman's on-court performance remained top-notch, again shutting down Malone in Game 4 until latter scored 39 points in a Jazz Game 5 win, bringing the series to 3-2 from the Bulls perspective. In Game 6, Jordan memorably hit the decisive basket after a controversial drive on Jazz forward Bryon Russell, the Bulls won their third title en bloc and Rodman his fifth ring. In the off-season, Rodman and Malone squared off again, this time in WWF wrestling at the July 1998 edition of At ''Bash at the Beach''. Rodman fought alongside Hulk Hogan, and Malone tagged along with Diamond Dallas Page: in a poorly-rated match, the two power forwards exchanged "rudimentary headlocks, slams and clotheslines" for 23 minutes.

Twilight years

Rodman left Chicago after the 1997-98 NBA season as the Bulls started a massive rebuilding phase, largely at the behest of then-general manager Jerry Krause who caused coach Jackson, and his star players Jordan and Pippen to retire or leave. Rodman joined the Los Angeles Lakers, but only played in 23 games and was then released. In the 1998-99 NBA season, the now 38 years old power forward was signed by the Dallas Mavericks, meaning that Rodman returned to the place where he grew up. For the Mavericks, Rodman played 12 games, was ejected twice and alienated the franchise with his erratic behaviour until he was waived again; Dallas guard Steve Nash commented that Rodman "never wanted to be [a Maverick]" and therefore was unmotivated.

Post-NBA years

After his NBA career, Rodman took a long break from basketball and concentrated on his film career and on wrestling. In 1999, he fought "Macho Man" Randy Savage at Road Wild 1999 in which Savage shoved Rodman in a portable toilet and eventually won the match. On July 30, 2000 for the i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling pay-per-view event, he fought against i-Generation Champion Curt Hennig. The event was subtitled Rodman Down Under. Rodman returned to play basketball for the Long Beach Jam of the newly-formed American Basketball Association during the 2003-04 season, with hopes of being called up to the NBA midseason. In the 2004-05 season, Rodman signed with the ABA's Orange County Crush and the following season with the league's Tijuana Dragons.

In the summer 2005, he was present at Sonkajärvi in a wife-carrying contest, but he resigned from the contest due to health problems. On January 26, 2006, it was announced that Rodman had signed a one-game "experiment" deal for the UK basketball team Brighton Bears to play Guildford Heat on January 28. If successful, the Bears had an option on further matches. He appeared in three games for the Brighton Bears of the British Basketball League and later for one game for Torpan Pojat of the Finland's basketball league, Korisliiga. Also, Rodman was named Commissioner of the Lingerie Football League in 2005.

Rodman, along with NBA ex-stars Darryl Dawkins, Kevin Willis, Calvin Murphy, Otis Birdsong and Alex English played two exhibition games in the Philippines. On April 27, 2006, they defeated a team of former Philippine Basketball Association stars in Mandaue City. Rodman delighted the crowd with his antics, scoring 5 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. A day later during a visit in Mandaue City, Cebu, locals were shocked at Rodman's snub of them and the media during his group's visit at the Mandaue City Hall where they met with mayor Teddy Ouano. Rodman committed a culinary faux pas when he ate a local rice cake without peeling off the banana leaf wrapping first. There were aslo children who never got the opportunity to present their prepared song in greeting him. West End Sports Tours president Mario Whitmire claimed that Rodman lacked sleep and had yet to adjust to the hot tropical weather. On May 1, 2006, Rodman's team played their last game and lost to the Philippine national basketball team 110-102 at the Araneta Coliseum, where Rodman himself scored 3 points and 16 rebounds.

On April 30, 2008, Rodman was arrested following an incident at a Los Angeles hotel. ESPN reported that Rodman was involved in a domestic dispute in which according to police he injured one person. He was booked for felony domestic violence and released the following day on a $50,000 bail. On June 24, 2008, he pled no contest to the misdemeanor spousal battery charges. He was sentenced to one year of domestic violence counseling and three years probation. He also received 45 hours of community service, which will involve some physical labor activities.

Legacy

In 14 NBA years, Rodman played in 911 games and scored 6,683 points and grabbed 11,954 rebounds, translating to 7.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game. His 13.1 rebounds per game make him the 11th best player ever in this statistic; the next best player who played with or after Rodman is Tim Duncan with 11.8 rpg as of 2008. Nba.com lauds Rodman as "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history and one of the most recognized athletes in the world" but also adds "enigmatic and individualistic, Rodman has caught the public eye for his ever-changing hair color, tattoos and unorthodox lifestyle". On the hardwood, he was recognised as one of the most successful defensive players ever, winning the NBA championship five times in six NBA Finals appearances (1989, 1990, 1996-8; only loss 1987), being crowned NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice (1990, 1991) and making seven NBA All-Defensive First Teams (1989-93, 1995, 1996) and NBA All-Defensive Second Teams (1994). Also, he made two All-NBA Third Teams (1992, 1995), two NBA All-Star Teams (1990, 1992) and won seven rebounding crowns (1992-98) and finally led the league once in field goal Percentage (1989). However, he was also recognised as the prototype bizarre player, stunning basketball fans with his artificial hair colors, numerous tattoos and body piercings, multiple verbal and physical assaults versus officials, frequent ejections, and his tumultuous private life.

Media appearances

In 1996, Rodman had his own MTV reality talk show called The Rodman World Tour, which featured Rodman in a series of odd-ball situations. A year later, Rodman made his feature film debut in the action film Double Team alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme. The film was critically panned and his performance earned him three Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst New Star, Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Screen Couple (shared with Van Damme). Rodman also starred in Simon Sez, a 1999 action/comedy and co-starred with Tom Berenger in a 2000 action film about skydiving titled Cutaway.

Since then he has appeared in few acting roles outside of playing himself. Rodman voiced Zack, a character resembling him, in Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. He has also made an appearance in an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun playing the character of himself, except being a fellow alien with the Solomon family. Rodman also appeared in several reality soaps: in January 2006, Rodman appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK, and on July 26, 2006, in the UK series Love Island as a houseguest contracted to stay for a week. Finally, he appeared on the show Celebrity Mole on ABC. He wound up winning the $222,000 grand prize.

Personal life

Rodman is the son of his mother Shirley and one of 27 children of his father Philander Rodman Jr. After he left when he was 3, Shirley Rodman took many odd jobs-at times, four at the same time-to support her family. In his 1997 biography "Bad As I Wanna Be", Rodman expresses his disgust for his father: "I haven't seen my father in more than 30 years, so what's there to miss... I just look at it like this: Some man brought me into this world. That doesn't mean I have a father." Rodman lived together with his mother and his sisters Debra and Kim Rodman, who also played basketball and went on to become All-Americans at Louisiana Tech and Stephen F. Austin respectively. Childhood was not easy for Rodman: he experienced poverty, and Rodman was so attached to his mother that he refused to move when she sent him to a nursery when he was 4. Also, Shirley Rodman was more interested in his two sisters Debra and Kim, who were both more talented than him in basketball (which made him a laughingstock whenever he tagged with them), and was generally "overwhelmed" by this all-female household. When he had his growth spurt, he became even more withdrawn because he felt odd in his own body. Rodman was so insecure around women that he thought he was homosexual in his teens, was still a virgin when he was 20, and finally had his first sex with a prostitute; Rodman described this as an unpleasant experience.

While at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Rodman befriended a younger boy who had accidentally shot his brother. Although Rodman had severe family issues himself, he "adopted" the boy's family as his own in 1982 and went from the city life to "driving a tractor and messing with cows." After this first positive social experience, Rodman met his girlfriend and later wife Anicka "Annie" Bakes and had a daughter Alexis (b. 1989). She married and divorced him in 1993, an experience which left him traumatised. In that year, Rodman was found asleep in his car with a loaded rifle in his hand, and it was rumoured that he had tried to commit suicide, which he confirmed four years later: but instead of killing himself, he decided to symbolically kill the shy Dennis Rodman he hated and to be reborn as a man full of self-confidence. After demanding and getting a trade to the San Antonio Spurs, he became the volatile character of his later years, began dating Madonna and claimed she actively tried to get a child from him. Shortly after, Rodman famously wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography ‘'Bad As I Wanna Be ‘', claimed that he was bisexual and that he was "marrying himself", thus the dress. In November 1998, Rodman married Carmen Electra in a state of intoxication, and the marriage was invalidated after just 10 days. A year later, Rodman met Michelle Moyer, who became his new girlfriend. Moyer bore him two children, namely a son called D.J. (* 2000) and a daughter named Trinity (* 2001). Moyer and Rodman married in 2003 on his 42th birthday. It was described as a "big party", in line with Rodman's reputation as a notorious party organiser: after settling down in Newport Beach, California, the police appeared over 70 times at his home because of loud parties. Two years later, Rodman published his second autobiography ‘'I Should Be Dead By Now'' and promoted this by sitting in a coffin.

Rodman admitted his frequent transgressions, but asserted that he lived his own life and thus a more honest life than most other people: "I just took the chance to be my own man... I just said, "If you don't like it, kiss my ass." ...Most people around the country, or around the world, are basically working people who want to be free, who want to be themselves. They look at me and see someone trying to do that... I'm the guy who's showing people, hey, it's all right to be different. And I think they feel, "Let's go and see this guy entertain us."" While being highly promiscuous, Rodman was also known for living a flamboyantly queer lifestyle. He claimed he was bisexual, dressed in tight-fitting halter tops and frequented gay bars, an attitude that was lauded by openly homosexual Olympic diving gold medal winner Greg Louganis. His long-time team mate Jack Haley stated that Rodman once took him to a gay bar with male strippers to gross him out, but when Haley amused himself, Rodman was so impressed that he made him his best friend and only confidant. Apart from promoting a queer lifestyle, in 2005, he became the first man, and the first sports star to pose (naked) for PETA's advertisement campaign "Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur"; Rodman is a long-time vegetarian.

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