Julius Hodge

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

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. Hodge\'s father was deported to Antigua and Barbuda when Hodge was nine years old and Hodge has not seen him since. 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.\n', '

As a senio…