NIU basketball coach Rob Judson never thought he was securing his first recruiting contacts when he was a third-grader.

But when Judson received a signed letter of intent from Gordon Tech High School’s 6-foot-6 point guard Julian McElroy on Wednesday, that seemed to be the case.

In the late 1960s, Judson made his way over to North Chicago High School every evening afterthe school day to hang out at his father’s basketball practices.

Phil Judson, a former University of Illinois hoops star, was a coach at the North Side school — one of his players at the time happened to be David McElroy, Julian’s father.

When the younger Judson got the head coaching position at NIU, he knew he had to recruit Julian, but he was unsure of his connection to Julian’s father. Recognizing the name McElroy, Judson inquired.

“He asked, ‘Do you have any family in the North Chicago area?'” McElroy said. “I told him my dad played up there. He was like, ‘What?! My dad coached up there.’ Then from there we found out they were there at the same time.I gave him my dad’s number and they were talking about things from way back in the day and from that point on, he had my dad, and once you’ve got my dad, you’ve got half of me. The other half was just me trying to see if I would feel comfortable [at NIU].”

Visiting the NIU campus last week, Julian felt right at home. Meeting all the players and being guided by redshirt-sophomore Perry Smith, who transferred last year from Illinois State, he was put to ease.

“Perry had to sit out last year, so it’s like both of us are sitting out this year and he made me feel comfortable and [the players] talked to me as if we were brothers, they didn’t talk down to me,” he said.

“And the idea of playing in a new stadium doesn’t sound to bad to me either.

“All around, Coach Judson was really excited about me and he wasn’t playing any games. He was consistent, a lot of other coaches weren’t as consistent.”

In fact, the other coaches were so inconsistent that McElroy wasn’t sure how much longer his basketball career would continue.

Averaging 17 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals this past season for the Rams, McElroy was a hidden gem. With not many colleges biting, McElroy was thinking of a career after basketball. With above-par grades, he was planning for a possible trip to Atlanta, Ga., to go to Morehouse College for an education, sans basketball … forever.

With Judson showing confidence in him, McElroy is more than happy to ditch his plans of Morehouse College and suit up for the Huskies.

“I’m sure that [Coach Judson] had something to do with Frankie [Williams] and those guys going to Illinois so he is coming after the players,” McElroy said. “If he’s coming after Frankie, then he comes to me and says to me that I could be a player, that makes me feel good.”

“He is an excellent student and has a great personality,” Judson said. “Those are two great attributes that we are excited about and compiled with his size and ability to play the point guard spot, I think we are getting a great recruit.”