Sad to hear. Before he came in there was a lot of hype about this 7 foot center on campus. I think he managed to live up to most of that hype and was one of the better centers of my time as a niner fan.
I remember spring breakin in Texas while in school and tons of folks knew all about him from his Texas high school days. I never got to know Rodney but somehow some not so bright folks confused me with him when I was out on some runs about campus although i’m about 6 inches shorter.
What horrible news…
My old roommate at Charlotte passed away 10 years ago last month. One of my favorite stories about him was also a Rodney Odom story.
Rodney and I had a history class together. We sat two seats apart with a smokin’ hottie sitting between us. The looks and mouthed “wow’s” he threw over this poor girls head at me all semester still make me laugh.
Anyway, I ran into him one late night at one the frathouses. We were both a couple of beers into it and we discussed the young lady from out history class. Eventually the discussion goes to baseball and we started arguing Pirates (me) v. Dodgers (or Giants, I can’t remember). We’re being loud and aggressive and calling each other names as drunk guys do. My roommate who was no more than 5’5” walks up looks Rodney up and down, turn to me and says
“Is this guy bothering you?”
Rodney cracks up and we commence to drink and argue some more.
Life can be short sometimes and sometimes we don’t know the real person, we just have the memory, but I still felt very sad when I read this thread this morning.
I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
Tintin
My old roommate at Charlotte passed away 10 years ago last month. One of my favorite stories about him was also a Rodney Odom story.Rodney and I had a history class together. We sat two seats apart with a smokin’ hottie sitting between us. The looks and mouthed “wow’s” he threw over this poor girls head at me all semester still make me laugh.
Anyway, I ran into him one late night at one the frathouses. We were both a couple of beers into it and we discussed the young lady from out history class. Eventually the discussion goes to baseball and we started arguing Pirates (me) v. Dodgers (or Giants, I can’t remember). We’re being loud and aggressive and calling each other names as drunk guys do. My roommate who was no more than 5’5” walks up looks Rodney up and down, turn to me and says
“Is this guy bothering you?”
Rodney cracks up and we commence to drink and argue some more.Life can be short sometimes and sometimes we don’t know the real person, we just have the memory, but I still felt very sad when I read this thread this morning.
I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
Tintin
Agreed. Any others out there from those years have a story (or two)?
Sadly I just found out, his wife is pregnant with their first child.
:unhappy:
Wow… Sad on may levels… Good dude, down to earth guy…
Too young.
Charlotte49ers.com: 49ers Family Mourns Loss of Rodney Odom
Chron.com: Kingwood’s Odom dies at age 38
BTW, the best story I ever heard was attributed to an assistant coach who allegedly said Odom was so homely he couldn’t get laid in a whorehouse! 
Rodney, we will miss you!
I remember when he first came to campus he had a quote in the Observer complaining about all the ACC gear on campus and lack of Niner coverage in the local media.
My condolences to his family.