HOUSTON — Dennis Rodman earned plenty of labels during his turbulent NBA career.
Here’s one the player who created chaos on — and sometimes off — the court never expected: Hall of Famer.
Rodman headlined the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2011 class announced Monday, a group that includes former Dream Team member Chris Mullin and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.
“It’s just unreal,” Rodman said.
And somewhat unexpected, at least to the two-time NBA defensive player of the year and five-time NBA champion who believed his extracurricular activities, including donning a wedding dress to marry himself, would overshadow his basketball accomplishments.
“I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn’t get in,” Rodman said.
Also part of the class were coaches Tex Winter, innovator of the triangle offense, and Philadelphia University’s Herb Magee; longtime NBA and ABA star Artis Gilmore; former Portland Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis; Olympic gold medalist Teresa Edwards; Harlem Globetrotter Reece “Goose” Tatum; and Boston Celtic Tom “Satch” Sanders.
Winter refined the triangle offense and helped the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers win nine NBA championships as an assistant to Phil Jackson. He retired after the 2006 season, capping a career that included a stint at Kansas State, where he led the Wildcats to two Final Fours.
For VanDerveer, Monday’s announcement was bittersweet, coming just hours after her Stanford team lost 63-62 to Texas A&M in an NCAA semifinal in Indianapolis.
“This is kind of a tough morning to be a basketball coach,” she said on a conference call. “This opportunity to be enshrined in Naismith is an incredible honor, and I’m overwhelmed by it.”
