Dennis Rodman, who almost shot himself, once helped a 13-year old escape the trauma of gun violence

Dennis Rodman, who almost shot himself, once helped a 13-year old escape the trauma of gun violence

Dennis Rodman has had a troubled and dark life at times. He’s had several run-ins with guns, both directly and indirectly.

Rodman was brought over at Jordan’s request. He used to be a member of the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs before he joined the Bulls, and he gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in the league.

In fact, Rodman was part of the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ teams that Jordan used to match up against. The Pistons and Bulls had formed quite the rivalry back then.

The Pistons were notorious for playing a rough style of basketball and invented the ‘Jordan rules’ to slow down the Bulls legend. This would involve fouling him hard, holding him, bumping him, and a lot more to make him physically uncomfortable. Rodman was a major part of that.

However, when the time came, Rodman proved his worth to the Bulls and won three rings with them.

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Dennis Rodman helped a 13-year-old kid come out of gun trauma

In 1993, things weren’t going very well for Dennis Rodman. The former Bulls star has been open about his depression and mental health, and things really came to a head in 1993.

“So one day, I wrote a note and went to the parking lot of the Palace,” Rodman said, at the time a member of the Detroit Pistons. “I had a gun rack, and I had a gun in my car. I had it in my hand. But for some reason, I played this music.”

“I put it on, and I was listening to this song and this music, and I was just debating. It didn’t have anything to do with basketball. It had to do with this love that I wanted, and it suddenly just left me.”

Rodman came out of his spell, of course, but it was a very scary, and very dark place for him to be at. Rodman has noted how improvements in treatment for mental health and discussions about a person’s mental well-being have been incredible, and if the world were in a similar place back in 1993, he would have never resorted to the steps he did.

However, that wasn’t the first time Rodman had an up-close encounter with a gun. In 1982, 13-year-old Bryne Rich was off on an adventure with his friends, Brad Robinson and Jeff and Bill Penz, with a shotgun.

“We started out here and we were shooting everything,” Rich recalled. ”Horse apples, just everything.” Unfortunately, one shot went awry and hit Robinson who would die three days later.

Rich went into a world of isolation after that. He felt scared to sleep alone and had dreams of Robinson that routinely troubled him. As a 13-year-old, it was a lot to take in.

His parents sent him to a basketball camp in 1983 where he would meet Dennis Rodman who changed his life. Bryne knew him as ‘Worm’ and invited him over for dinner once.

“I said, ‘Sure you can bring him,’” Pat Rich, Bryne’s mother remembered. “He came back later and said, ‘There is just one thing I haven’t told you. He’s Black.’ I said, ‘Black?’” His mother would agree, reluctantly, and that became the first night Bryne slept in his room after Brad’s death.

”It didn’t hit me until later,” Pat explained. ”I felt like it was God’s way of Worm coming into our family and God’s way of meeting Bryne’s needs.”

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Post Edited By: Jeet Pukhrambam
Chicago Bulls Dennis Rodman NBA

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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