Before his name became ‘Huskie Mobile Guy,’ he used to be Justin Heuer, a 2001 NIU graduate and fan of Huskie football.

But a few years ago, the sight of a school bus in the tailgate area at Huskie Stadium caused a light bulb to go on in his head. He’d been going to Huskie football games since 2000, but in 2002, he decided he wanted to be more than just an average fan.

“The football team started doing pretty well,” Heuer said, “and I started wondering, ‘what can I do?’”

Heuer wanted something that could be recognized wherever he went, and when he shelled out $500 for a rusty 1989 GMC Vandura, he took the first step toward NIU’s paramount tailgating vehicle: the Huskie Mobile.

Heuer spent $5,000 working on the Huskie Mobile before the beginning of the 2003 season, and has since become the most recognized figure in Huskie tailgating.

You might see “Huskie Mobile Guy” in one of his two NIU jerseys, one black and the other white: 1990 jerseys with the number 89 on front and back. But why 89?

“That was just the number they had,” Heuer laughed.

In fact, he doesn’t even know the player who wore it, but it has become his; one of Heuer’s many eBay purchases of NIU football memorabilia.

Sure, he transferred a rusted-out retro van into a shiny black tailgating mobile, but that just wasn’t enough.

A few months ago Heuer added a Huskie “short” bus to his NIU vehicle lineup. The “Huskie Bus” is similar to the one he saw tailgating years ago, except this one is fire-engine red and decorated with Huskie logos. Heuer’s newest addition to the growing vehicle collection? The Huskie scooter.

“I’m always coming up with new ideas,” Heuer said. “I’m always trying to spice [the Huskie Mobile] up and keep it fresh.”

But keeping things fresh takes money. Heuer does most of the body and engine work to his vehicles himself, but his hobby’s cost has added up. How much money has he dropped on his Huskie wheels?

“Too much,” Heuer said. “With the $5,000 from the Huskie mobile, the money up front for the bus and the money I spent on the scooter, I’d say at least $10,000 with everything.”

His tailgating pals tell him he should start his own business, but for now, Heuer’s business is taxiing his friends to Huskie football games in his custom rides. He plans to take a Huskie bus load of fans to the Sept. 3 season opener at Michigan.

“Right now, I can’t see the program going anywhere but up,” Heuer said. “I can’t say enough about [NIU athletic director] Jim Phillips – he’s phenomenal.”

When Heuer first drove the Huskie Mobile to its first game, some might have thought he was crazy, but after two nationally-spotlighted seasons, Heuer thinks things might have changed.

“I was driving around today and I saw a guy walking around with an NIU hat on,” he said from his home in Mount Prospect. “I was like, ‘wow, it might actually be cool to wear NIU stuff now.’”