Julius Hodge

Julius Hodge was born in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem and raised across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.[1] His mother, Mary Hodge, worked two jobs, including as a teacher's aide, to support Julius and his two siblings.[1][2]

Hodge became smitten with basketball when he was five years old after his father took him to a New York Knicks game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden where Magic Johnson smiled at him in the crowd.[1] Hodge's father was deported to Antigua and Barbuda when Hodge was nine years old and Hodge has not seen him since.[2] Hodge's older brother, Steven, was his strongest male role model and played basketball in the NJCAA at Sullivan County Community College and later in NCAA Division II at Long Island University – Southampton. Steven made the decision to name his younger brother after all-time basketball great Julius Erving.[3]

As a senior at St. Raymond High School for Boys, operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, in the Bronx, New York, Hodge was part of the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team and the First-team Parade All-American, New York State Mr. Basketball, New York Daily News Player of the Year, New York All-Metro Squad, and Sports Illustrated's Old Spice Athlete of the Month. He scored a total of 684 points his senior season, setting the school record at St. Raymond High School, and left rated as the best shooting guard by ESPN and fifth-best nationally. He averaged 24.5 points, 5 assists and 4 steals per game.[4] Hodge surprised basketball fans by choosing to attend NC State over Syracuse University.[5]

As a freshman with the NC State Wolfpack, he was the leading freshman scorer in the ACC, averaging 10.7 points per game. He was named to second-team All-ACC Tournament team, after averaging 12.3 points. He earned the Lorenzo Charles Offensive Rebounding Award for 2002, Dick Vitale's "Diaper Dandy" and ranked 20th in the ACC in rebounding. He scored a double-double in his first collegiate game and his first ACC game. He was the only Pack player with multiple double-doubles for the 2001–2002 season.

For the 2002–03 campaign, Hodge was selected as a First Team All-ACC player. He recorded four career-highs during the three-day run to the finals of the ACC tournament. He recorded his seventh double-double during the final game of the tournament and ranked seventh in free throw percentage for the season. During this season he recorded the first-ever triple-double in Wolfpack history, and was named ACC Player of the Week after leading the Pack to back-to-back victories against Duke and North Carolina. He was one of 17 finalists to make the U.S. squad for the 2003 Pan American Games and Dick Vitale named Hodge to his "All-Rolls Royce Team." He was one of the 50 preseason candidates for the Wooden Award.

During the 2005 NCAA tournament, Hodge hit a game winning shot against UConn after Charlie Villanueva had tied the score.

After concluding his senior season and entering the NBA draft, Hodge remained at NC State to finish his degree in communications.[6]

Hodge was chosen in the first round (20th overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He appeared in 14 games for the Nuggets in the 2005–06 season while averaging only 0.9 points in 2.4 minutes.[7]

On January 5, 2007, Hodge started in his first career NBA game, against the Los Angeles Lakers. Six days later he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Earl Boykins for Steve Blake.[8] On February 7 of that year, Hodge was waived by the Bucks.[9] Later that year, he played for the 2007 Seattle SuperSonics summer league team.[10]

On August 10, 2007, Hodge signed with Italian Serie A team Cimberio Varese. Midway through the season, he transferred to fellow Serie A team Legea Scafati.[11] In Italy, Hodge had trouble getting his clubs to fulfill his salary obligations.[12]

In the summer of 2009, Hodge attended a Chicago Bulls mini-camp but did not make the team's roster.[12] In November 2009, Hodge signed with the Melbourne Tigers to help bolster an injury-plagued roster missing Chris Anstey.[23] In his November 14, 2009 debut, Hodge scored 22 points and tallied 9 rebounds and 7 assists, but it wasn't enough as the Townsville Crocodiles won 98–91.[24]

Hodge returned to Adelaide as a member of the Melbourne Tigers in December 2009. He was booed every time he touched the ball and after the win Hodge stamped on Brett Maher's signature on center court.[25] He had to receive a police escort off the court and out of the building.

Hodge returned to the Americas in 2010 after signing a contract with Trotamundos de Carabobo of Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto.[26]

After a brief stint in Venezuela, Hodge was signed in the summer of 2010 by Guangzhou Free Man of China's National Basketball League. He scored 16 points in his debut against Shenyang.[27]

Later in 2010, Hodge received a substantial offer from Petrochimi Bandar Imam BC of the Iranian Basketball Super League. Although impressed by the quality of basketball in Iran, Hodge was not comfortable with the environment. On March 3, 2011, Hodge and the club agreed to terminate his contract because they were unable to pay him the full amount.

Hodge's first new team of 2011 was BC Tsmoki-Minsk, a Belarusian Premier League team in Minsk. Due to a struggling economy, the club was slow to make payments and Hodge ultimately exercised an option to exit his contract early.[6]

Hodge returned to China in 2011, this time playing for the Jiangsu Tongxi. In seven games with Jiangsu, he averaged 25.6 points per game and was named the All-Chinese NBL Import Player of the Year.[28]

In December 2011, Hodge signed with Vietnam's Saigon Heat of the ASEAN Basketball League.[29] On February 20, 2012, the Heat released him.[30] Hodge described playing in Vietnam as an "adventure" where he had the unique experience of playing alongside teammates who worked 9–5 jobs.[6]

In November 2012, Hodge was added to the roster of Paris-Levallois Basket in France's LNB Pro A.[31] In Paris, he was teammates with Sean May and Jawad Williams, both of whom were Hodge's conference rivals in college and his teenage friends from the youth basketball circuit.[6]

The Saint John Mill Rats of the National Basketball League of Canada announced the signing of Hodge on February 4, 2013. Hodge became just the ninth former NBA player to ever play in the league.[32] The club bought out his contract with Paris-Levallois Basket later that month on February 25.[33]

On May 18, 2015, Buffalo Bulls head coach Nate Oats announced that Hodge would serve as the Director of Player Development for the State University of New York at Buffalo.[34]

On March 29, 2016, Hodge joined his former college coach Herb Sendek as an assistant coach at Santa Clara University.[35]

On April 26, 2018, Hodge joined the staff of Jean Prioleau at San Jose State as an assistant coach.[36]

In July 2021, Hodge became an assistant coach at Arkansas Little Rock.

After visiting a nightclub on April 8, 2006, Hodge was on Interstate 76 in North Denver around 2:00 a.m. when another vehicle pulled alongside his and fired several shots. Hodge was told he came within 5 minutes of bleeding to death. The case has yet to be solved.[37]

In 2011, Hodge played for the Antigua and Barbuda national basketball team in the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championship.[28]

During each offseason of his overseas playing career, Hodge returned to live in Raleigh, North Carolina where he played during his college career. As of 2013, Hodge is married with two children. He describes himself as a "movie buff."[6]

His quote "When we hungry, we eat" after upsetting top ranked Duke, was the inspiration for the American Aquarium song "Wolves", and was the title track for the album.

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• French League profile