Dennis Rodman

Dennis Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on May 13, 1961. His father, Philander, would end up deserting the family when Rodman was only three, leaving his mother Shirley to try to raise her son and his two younger sisters without a father figure. As a kid, Rodman played sports, but given his small size, there was nothing fantastic about his athletic childhood. As Rodman often says, he was just regular.

When Rodman graduated from high school, he was only five foot eleven, and had failed, throughout four years, to make the varsity basketball squad. He couldn't find a place to fit in, and bounced from job to job. At one point he worked as a janitor for the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and on a dare from a friend, stuck the

Dennis Rodman

handle from his mop through a gift shop grate and stole fifteen watches. According to Mark Seal in Playboy, "he was arrested, jailed for a night and released after he told the cops where the watches were." The incident passed, but it contributed to the problems Rodman was having with his slacker lifestyle. The arrest infuriated his mother, who was tired of her son's inability to grow up. She threatened Rodman with an ultimatum. He had a choice: he could go to college, find another job, or, following in the footsteps of his father, enter the military. Rodman didn't choose. Getting no response, his mother packed his bags and kicked him out of the house.