John Wall now has several tattoos, with plans to get more before the next season begins. Although, truth be told, you might never notice them if you only watch him on the basketball court.
“He's trying to do it like KD; he wants all his tats to not be seen,” said his tattoo artist, the Georgia-based Randy Harris of Tattoos by Randy, who also has done the vast majority of Kevin Durant's body art, as well as tattoos for Wale, Allen Iverson, Monta Ellis and a host of other NBA stars. “He wants to still respect his mom and those things, but there's a whole ‘nother part of him. Everybody's got tattoos.”
And so within the past month, Harris created an homage to Raleigh on Wall's midsection, complete with the skyline, area code and signature interstate-40 road sign of the point guard's hometown — “kind of a tribute to where he started,” as Harris put it. “All his stomach tattoos represent where he's from.”
A star adorns the middle of Wall's chest. Above one breast is a tribute to his mother, which includes her name and a reference to Wall as a mama's boy. On his back are the words “Great Wall,” made out of bricks; Harris eventually plans to tattoo the University of Kentucky logo — and possibly other symbols — on top of that “wall.”
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.