Thanking his coaches and apologizing to his family for his shortcomings, Dennis Rodman was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night.
Choking up often during an emotional speech, Rodman said his regret was not being a better father, and praised his coaches for being a father to him, after his own father left when he was a child.
The enshrinement of Rodman capped the enshrinement of the 10-member class of 2011. Chris Mullin, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, opened the night as the other headliner. Rodman wore two outfits to the event, but said his many looks were an “illusion” and that he loved “to just be an individual that’s very colorful.”
He thanked Commissioner David Stern and the N.B.A. community “to even just have me in the building” and saved his deepest appreciation for the coaches Phil Jackson and Chuck Daly, the Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and James Rich, whose family took Rodman in after his mother threw him out of the house. Rodman described them as men “you can call any time of day” who ignored his antics and “looked at an individual that had a good heart.”
He apologized to his mother, who was in a crowd that did not know quite what to expect from Rodman.
Mullin, a five-time All-Star with one of the game’s best jump shots, was enshrined last year as part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team and also won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics.
He followed a decorated amateur career by scoring more than 17,000 points in the N.B.A. He said, “Looking out, I realize I’m a long way from Flatbush Avenue, but Brooklyn’s definitely in the house tonight.”
He played at St. John’s and was presented for enshrinement by his coach there, Lou Carnesecca. “I chose the best coach in the best city, and I played in the world’s most famous arena,” Mullin said.
The class also included coaches Tara VanDerveer, who has led Stanford to two national championships and won more than 800 games, Tex Winter and Division II Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee, the career leader at the collegiate level with more than 900 wins.
The eight-time N.B.A. champion Tom Sanders; the big men Artis Gilmore and Arvydas Sabonis; the late Reece Tatum of the Harlem Globetrotters; and the women’s star Teresa Edwards were also honored.
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