PORTLAND, Ore. — He's one of the NBA's most polarizing players of all time.
Dennis Rodman is a hall of famer who was willing to sacrifice his body to make a play. Among the greatest rebounders and defenders in NBA history. His star power went beyond basketball and he was a key piece to the Chicago Bulls championship run in the late 90s.
"The Bulls were on the verge of this three-peat. They were in the middle of this magical season going into this," said longtime NBA photographer Sam Forencich.
He's spent the past 30 years working in the league and the past two decades in Rip City. Back in 1997, he got the assignment he will never forget.
"To get an opportunity to go to Chicago, it was the only time I was ever sent there. I was super excited because I never got much of a chance to film Michael Jordan or that particular team. We'd only get them once a year, so I was all amped up."
The Bulls faced the Warriors in Chicago and Forencich had a front row seat along the baseline, in position to take an iconic photo of Rodman diving for the ball, head first into the first row.
"I just feel super lucky that I was the guy sitting there. Any number of my colIeagues, if they were sitting in the same spot, we all have the same kind of training, shot with the same kind of equipment, they would have had a shot at getting that same image. I was just blessed to be there at that time," said Forencich.
His timing was perfect.
"Back then we were shooting film so it wasn't the instant gratification of looking on the back of your camera and going, 'oh I got it' or 'I didn't get it.'"
He captured Rodman flying, he was parallel to the ground, but Forencich had no idea how good that photo really was because he had to send the film to the NBA to get developed. It was days before he saw image.
"It shows up as a double-page spread in Sports Illustrated and it looked amazing. I was super pleased, but it took like over a week for me to actually see it and have confirmation that it was a special picture."
The image was seen all over the world. In 2012, Sports Illustrated ranked it among the 100 greatest sports photos of all-time.
"I've never had a picture like it, that's been so-called iconic. It was in European magazines, it was on billboards, it was all over the place," said Forencich. "Jay Leno had Rodman on as a guest, the next thing I see is my Sports Illustrated image filling the screen on the TV. They talked about the photo and that moment. It was kind of surreal the impact that it had."
Millions are tuning in to see ESPN's documentary "The Last Dance", reliving those championship moments and introducing them to a new audience. The Rodman picture has new life, shared and liked thousands of times on social media.
"It's a trip. It fades into the background for me, but every once in a while, something will come up. Rodman is in the news and the photo will run somewhere, but this has been a little off the hook this week with the documentary out there."