Dennis Rodman is famous for his incredible NBA career, in which he won five championships. Despite not being a scorer, Rodman made a name for himself in the league among the best of players. The rebound king played for some of the top teams in the NBA in his Hall of Fame career. However, few know about his struggle with making a career in basketball. He had a tragic childhood and faced a lot of hardships on the way to the NBA. On one occasion, he was jailed for the possession of stolen watches at the Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport.

Dennis Rodman spent most of his childhood without his father, Philander Rodman Jr. Rodman’s mother, Shirley, raised him along with his two elder sisters. Rodman was 5’9″ during his time at the high school and failed to make it to the high school basketball team several times.

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After getting cut from his high school basketball and football teams, Rodman started working as a janitor at the Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport. However, one night during his job, he took stolen watches from a co-worker and gave them to his friends. That led to him getting jailed for a few hours.

Dennis Rodman discusses spending a night in jail for stolen watches

The former Chicago Bulls star made a big mistake that night at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. He has no intention of stealing the watches or making any profits from them. But Rodman had to spend a night in jail. A Chicago Tribune report from 1988 reveals Rodman’s thoughts on the incident.

”One cop told me if I had sold the watches instead I could`ve been put away for good for a felony or something,” Rodman said.

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”How could I have known that? How lucky was I? When I went to court and they dropped the charges, I couldn`t believe it. That was the turning point for me. In that cell, I swore I was going to make something of myself . . . I swore,” he added.

However, hours later, the charges were dropped. His friends returned the watches and Rodman was released from jail. But Rodman ‘swore’ to himself to make a career at that time and he was very serious.

Rodman’s late growth spurt

Rodman failed to make it to his high school basketball team. However, while working at the airport as a janitor, he had an insane growth spurt. He went from 5’9″ to 6’7″ during that time. NAIA Southeastern Oklahoma heard about Rodman’s exploits as a street basketball player and offered him a scholarship to play college basketball.

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Rodman then excelled in college basketball and made it to the 1986 NBA draft. He made a name for himself as an elite defender and helped Detroit Pistons win back-to-back championships. The rest, as they say, is history.

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