Dennis Rodman would forge a friendship so strong with Byrne Rich that Rich’s father would loan him money for a car in 1986
Advertisement
Dennis Rodman didn’t come from an affluent background in the slightest. His single mother, Shirley, had to take up a multitude of jobs to provide for herself, Dennis, and Dennis’s two older sisters. By the time the eventual NBA star would turn 18, she would kick him out of the house, changing the locks on all the doors.
Rodman would have to scrounge for odd jobs himself, trying to sustain a living. He would eventually start playing for Southeastern Oklahoma State from 1983 to 1986 before getting drafted into the NBA. During that summer, he would bump into Byrne Rich while playing pick-up basketball at a Rec Center.
Byrne was 13 years old and Rodman was 22. The two immediately hit it off as they helped combat each other’s troubles, both of which we will get into later on.
Dennis Rodman had to borrow money from James Rich to pay for his first ever car
Dennis Rodman had become so intertwined with the Rich family that they treated him as if he were their own son. They showed him the same love and affection they showed Byrne and lambasted him the same way they would their biological son for any mishaps.
He would eventually begin to live at their 600-acre farm on the regular as they provided him with great housing. They would become so close that when it became time for Rodman to enter the 1986 NBA Draft, Byrne’s father would present him with the ultimate gift.
Dennis had never had a car before and his first car was a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He bought it in April 1986 and when it came time to pay for it, the Dallas native actually borrowed money from James Rich. The car today, is worth around $15,000.
Why was Dennis Rodman welcomed with open arms into the Rich family?
4 months prior to Dennis Rodman and Byrne Rich crossing paths, the latter had accidentally, but fatally shot his best friend, Brad Robinson, in the stomach during a hunting trip. This led to Byrne going down a path of severe depression where he couldn’t even sleep alone and had to with his parents every night.
Dennis at the same time, was feeling incredibly homesick as he was away from his sisters in Dallas. When they crossed paths, the two helped each other patch up each other’s emotional wounds. Byrne’s mother claimed the first time he slept away from them was when Rodman had come over and slept on the floor.
Also read: Dennis Rodman, Who Had Been Sober For 2 Years, Relapsed Because He Was Admittedly ‘Bored’
