Philander Rodman dead at 79: Father of NBA star Dennis mourned by 29 children

Dennis Rodman’s father, who had an estranged relationship with the most famous of his 29 children with 16 women, has died aged 79.

Philander Rodman, the father of NBA legend Dennis Rodman — and a whole lot of other people — has died aged 79.

Philander had been living in the Philippines since the 1970s and died in Angeles City, Pampanga, a province northwest of the capital Manila. Philander’s grand-daughter Jasmine announced his death on social media.

Philander fathered a whopping 29 children with 16 different women. When he wasn’t busy breeding, he ran a burger joint in his adopted country, which he first visited as a member of the US Air Force.

Dennis was just five-years-old when Philander walked out on the family. The pair were estranged for decades, though Rodman Senior tried to seek his son’s forgiveness.

Rodman’s Rainbow Obamaburger joint even sold burger buns and fries in red, yellow and green in honour of the famous hairstyle Dennis rocked as he won three championships with the Chicago Bulls alongside Michael Jordan in the 1990s.

In his 1996 memoir Bad As I Want To Be, Dennis wrote: “I never really knew my father, Philander Rodman … when I was three we packed up and came back to Dallas where my mother is from. We did this when my father stopped coming home.

“My father isn’t part of my life.

“I just look at it like this: Some man brought me into this world. That doesn’t mean I have a father; I don’t. I could say, ‘This is my father. This is my dad’, but that doesn’t sound right to me.”

At his Hall of Fame speech in 2011 Dennis told the world he “did not have a father” but a year later the two finally reunited at an exhibition event in the Philippines.

you will be missed dad, 😭 pic.twitter.com/LPl13mr604

— iamJ (@iamJ1993) July 15, 2020

“I just want to see Dennis. He’s my son,” Philander said beforehand. “I just want to clear it up and rest in peace when I die so that he knew that I did not abandon him.”

The father of 29 children got his wish.

“It was great,” Philander told The Associated Press after their meeting. “I’ve been trying to meet him for years. And then last night, boom, I met him. I was really, really happy and very surprised.”

Dennis added: “I don’t hate the guy that brought me into this world. The fact is, if I saw him, I’ll just tell him, ‘You know, you’re a friend of mine’.”

Dennis has been back in the headlines this year thanks to The Last Dance documentary, which detailed Michael Jordan’s final season with the all-conquering Bulls of the 1990s.

While the Netflix and ESPN production was all about Jordan, Rodman made some memorable cameos. Most notable is the storyline where coach Phil Jackson allowed his wild child a 48-hour vacation to blow off some steam, only for the defensive rock to prolong his Las Vegas bender with then-girlfriend Carmen Electra and overstay his welcome.

Jordan had to drag Rodman out of Electra’s bed one morning to bring him to practice.

RELATED: MJ dragged Rodman out of Electra’s bed

Philander Rodman and Dennis Rodman had a complicated relationship.