Kowalczyk seems to like recruiting kids with a blood line. Jesse Childs ' dad played his heart out and made it to the NBA. The Nix were involved with Childs when he was at that prep school in Chicago, Boys to Men. I wondered at the time if he was a D1 prospect and what the staff saw in him. But Jesse got on track academically and had to play against some tough competition in Chicago and in the Arizona JUCO league.

Back in high school he showed ability in both football and basketball. He played for Borah High School in Boise, Idaho. The major colleges, Boise State, Idaho and Idaho State along with the rest of the Big Sky were very interested.

Jesse does indeed have size, experience and a father who can tell him what it takes. He needed the time to get his academics where it needed to be and that has been achieved. Jesse clearly has taken care of business since his senior year in high school.

Here are some headlines from Childs sophomore season at Mesa CC –

"Coming off his Player of the Week nomination, Jessie Childs played a stellar game with 15 points, five assists, and four steals. What doesn't show up in the box score is his tremendous hustle."

"Jessie Childs led the way to an improbable victory over a national junior college force in the Howard Hawks, 99-92 in overtime. Childs led all scorers with 32 points on 9 of 16 from the floor. He was also perfect from the free throw line in the second half, going 11 of 11."

"Sophomore guard Jessie Childs led all scorers with 21 points. He also had four rebounds and six assists."

From the Idaho Stateman:
June 10, 2008

Former Borah star to play basketball at Wisconsin-Green Bay
Former Borah High basketball player Jesse Childs, who helped the Lions win state titles in 2004 and 2005, recently signed a national letter of intent with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Childs, the son of former Boise State guard and NBA star Chris Childs, heads to Green Bay after playing two seasons at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz. He also spent one year with the Boys to Men Academy in Chicago, where he played basketball and dedicated himself to improving his ACT and SAT scores.

"There were other schools, but Green Bay was there from the beginning, and there was definitely some mutual respect there," said Childs, who has two years of college eligibility remaining.

Childs averaged 16.5 points, 7.0 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals for Mesa last season.

He was coached during his freshman season by Alton Lister, who left Mesa to become an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks last year.