In episodes three and four of the sports documentary “The Last Dance,” Dennis Rodman was the main attraction, which led to the resurrection of his iconic dive shot. The photographer of the classic picture looked back on the time he got the picture and its aftermath.
NBA photographer Sam Forencich recalled that great assignment in 1997. On capturing the iconic Dennis Rodman photo in the game between the Bulls and the Warriors, Forencich claimed that he was just lucky as his colleagues were practically in the same spot, had the same equipment. So they all had equal opportunity to get great pictures.
Back then, photographers had to wait for a couple of days to actually see the photos they took. For Forencich, that long wait was well worth it.
“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,” Forencich said per Orlando Sanchez of KGW8.
After the photo debuted in Sports Illustrated, it was seen all over the world — in other magazines, billboards, and even on TV.
“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.”
Indeed, the ones in the photo are as important as the one who took it. Rodman may be the highlight of that photo, but Forencich, too, is part of that history.
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