North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Hodge Living Life to Fullest Down Under
1/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Editor's note: Though he won't be able to attend, 2004 ACC Player of the Year Julius Hodge will be one of three former NC State players who will be honored during Saturday's noon game against Clemson, as part of the school's celebration of 100 years of basketball. Public address announcer C.A. Dillon and current Chicago Bulls head coach Vinny Del Negro will also be recognized.
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – There was once a delicate balance for Julius Hodge, between the happy-go-lucky, free-wheeling kid who showed so much ebullience on the court when things were going well for him and his NC State teammates and the serious, never-say-stop workout fiend who spent hour after lonely hour working on his game at an empty Reynolds Coliseum.
That all changed on April 8, 2006, when Hodge suffered a near-fatal gunshot wound in a still unsolved drive-by shooting during his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets. That incident has effectively ended Hodge's NBA career, but it has hardly quelled his desire to be one of the best basketball players in the world.
What's changed about Hodge is that he is trying to be less serious and more fun-loving. Maybe it was the arrival of his daughter, Michaela, a little over three years ago. Or maybe it was that brush with a bullet in the middle of the road, when doctors told him he was about five minutes away from dying.
People who remember Hodge running around the RBC Center, holding his nephew Javon, following a victory over top-ranked Duke during his junior season will have no trouble believing that he's trying to live every day with that much joy.
"It really just made me appreciate everything," Hodge said. "People always thought I had a lot of fun on the court, but now I try to look at everything as fun. I could not be doing this – or anything else.
"I am just always trying to look at the bright side now."
Now 26, Hodge is playing for the third consecutive year in Australia. He spent his first two years with the Adelaide 36ers. Last November, he signed with the Melbourne Tigers. He's averaging a team-leading 17.1 points. He enjoys his new location because it reminds him of home.
"Melbourne is like a smaller New York City," said Hodge, who learned basketball on the playgrounds of Harlem, N.Y. "But with more polite people."
Though he hates being away from his daughter, who is back home in the U.S., Hodge is trying as hard as he can to be positive, as he spends more than six months abroad to support his family.
"I look at it as a little kid going to Disney World," Hodge said. "Even if I am missing home or not feeling well, I try to think, 'Hey, I am going to Disney World. Awesome!'"
He still works out at least twice a day during the off-season, to keep himself in shape and improve his game. Pack fans might find this hard to believe, but last summer the inescapably skinny Hodge bulked up to more than 230 pounds of muscle. He slimmed down some by the time he went o Australia, but he's no longer just a 6-foot-5 string bean.
Wolfpack fans can follow Hodge's exploits via his website, www.24hodge.com, on Facebook or via Twitter at Follow24Hodge, for bits of wisdom from Down Under.
Hodge wants to continue playing basketball as long as he can, perhaps working his way back to the NBA, but he's also thinking more about the future.
"I definitely want to get into college coaching one day," Hodge said. "When I am overseas, I am so much of a teacher to the other guys on the team, even guys older than me. I will work out and then I will work a teammate out.
"I want to continue to do that, to help people play basketball."
Hodge comes back to Raleigh when he can, to see close friend and Wolfpack director of basketball operations Levi Watkins. And he still maintains frequent contact by phone with former NC State coach Herb Sendek, who is now at Arizona State.
"I call him every time the Steelers lose," Hodge said.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
