Paul Daugherty

@EnquirerDoc

Annie gave him the tattoo on his back. One of them, anyway. It was six months after Corben Bone had arrived to play for a new United Soccer League franchise named FC Cincinnati. Club president and general manager Jeff Berding paid a $5,000 transfer fee for Bone. Back then, Bone would have said Berding got robbed.

Annie the artist at White Whale Tattoo on McMillan inscribed on Bone’s back a loose translation of a line from the epic poem Ithaka, by C.P. Cavafy. The original goes like this:

As you set out for Ithaka, hope your road is a long one.

Bone saw irony and hope in that verse now permanently decorating his back. Before Berding bought him, Bone was a midfielder for the Wilmington (N.C.) Hammerheads, a team so adrift that in 2016 it relegated itself from the United Soccer League to the Premier Development League, then in 2018 decided not to field a team at all. The Hammerheads were a good fit for Bone, whose pro soccer career had never been what he’d hoped.

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He’d played at Wake Forest, then left college early after he’d been taken 13th overall in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. Six years and three teams later Bone’s pro career was fading. “The love of my life,’’ was what he’d called the game, and it was not kind. It was draining him of whatever enthusiasm he still had. “I’d gained a profession I’d dreamed about, and lost myself along the way’’ is how Bone explained it Tuesday.

He pondered going home to Texas, finding a teaching job, maybe doing a little coaching. “I had huge expectations, then I lost my sense of self. (Soccer) was my whole life, and if that wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go, then what was my worth?’’ Bone wondered.

He has other tattoos. HOPE is on his right arm. So is PARADISE, for the character Sal Paradise in Jack Kerouac’s novel of searching, On The Road. The Ithaka tat was special for its prescience. After a long road, Bone has made it here, and he has stayed. He is one of two remaining FCC originals. The other is injured midfielder Jimmy McLaughlin.

The player who almost gave up on his dream now watches as the dream circles back and becomes real again. “I’m in Wilmington playing for the fun of it and looking forward to retirement’’ when a friend from Wake Forest, Ryan Martin, called.

Martin was an assistant coach for John Harkes, FC Cincinnati’s head coach that first season. Bone also knew Harkes’ son, who was a teammate of Bone’s at Wake. Harkes and Martin convinced Berding to put up the $5,000.

Bone figured what the heck. New start, new surroundings, potentially new result. In four years with the MLS’ Chicago Fire, the former 1st-round draft pick had played in only 18 games. This had to be better than that.

“A leap of faith,’’ Bone called it. For himself, his new team and his new town. They all grew up quickly, and together. That’s been the beauty of it for Bone. He wrote on his Twitter page not long ago, “My life has changed, and I have Cincinnati to thank. This city and club gave me life in soccer family and self.’’

He has made a living as a dependable midfielder. He has played in 102 matches in three years. Berding joked, “Every year we try to replace him, and every year we can’t.’’

Coaches and teammates “have pulled out the best in me,’’ Bone said. “I started to enjoy soccer again. Bone, like his new team, quickly wove himself into the fabric of his new home. He calls Cincinnati “an amazing town. I love the energy here.’’

The what?

“I’ve met people that are excited about the city and where it can go. People with ideas, who collaborate. FC Cincinnati is part of that. The newness. It’s fun to be around.

“Jeff (Berding) talks about this being bigger than us. It’s going to be here years from now, after our careers are over. I have a sense of loyalty and pride to this club and this city.’’

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Bone looks back with appreciation at his career before Cincinnati. It informed his gratitude for what he has now. “It got me to where I am,’’ he said. His Ithaka, of sorts.

Bone’s tattoos tell his story. There is a line of musical notes on his arm, from the classic Motown tune “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’’. His Wake Forest team played that in the locker room before games.

There’s a drawing of a woman, too. The profile of her face rests just below a wine bottle containing a rose. That’d be Annie, the tattoo artist, whom Corben Bone married about two years ago. They have a 16-month-old son and another child on the way.

“It’s storybook, man,’’ Bone said.