A guy who wears funny suits once saved another guy nicknamed “The Worm” from committing suicide at a strip club. And no, this isn’t something out of an HBO series.
Craig Sager’s illustrious career as an NBA sideline reporter and ongoing battle with leukemia is chronicled in the May 2 edition of Sports Illustrated, which features the positive, silly suit-wearing, well-respected TVÂ mainstay on the cover. Many anecdotes are contained within the feature story written by Lee Jenkins, but one of the most bizarre involves Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, who, of course, is known as much for his off-the-court antics as his on-court prowess.
Below is an excerpt from Jenkins’ story.
“An interview with Sager should really be conducted at the dog track, where he used to own greyhounds, or a Hooters, where servers clad in Sager Orange bring him Bud Light and buffalo shrimp. He should be perched on a barstool next to his wife, Stacy — a former Bulls dancer 21 years his junior — regaling strangers with a story about Dennis Rodman, who went AWOL from the Pistons in 1993 and planned to commit suicide, until Sager tracked down the Worm on the second floor of a Detroit strip club. ‘The Landing Strip,’ Sager recalls. ‘He had the gun. He was going to do it. I told him how stupid that would be.’ ”
Rodman never pulled the trigger. Instead, he continued his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs for the 1993-94 season following a trade from the Detroit Pistons. He later won three more NBA titles in three seasons with the Chicago Bulls from 1995 to 1998, giving him five rings total.
In other words, Sager, who continues to fight for his life, hasn’t just shaped NBA media coverage over the years. He’s directly impacted the league and the lives of those in it.
Thumbnail photo via YouTube screen grab
