For some Spurs, tattoos have deep meanings — others not so much

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This is the tattoo culture of the San Antonio Spurs — lots of ink, with deep meaning for players such as LaMarcus Aldridge, David West, Rasual Butler, Jonathon Simmons and even Tim Duncan.

Style is important. But it isn’t the only reason behind many of the tattoos. There is a fair amount of history behind the drawings.

Rasual Butler

Family is the theme behind many of his designs.

Butler recalled his first design, something he got while attending a tattoo party in his hometown of Philadelphia. It reads “Sual,” which is short for his first name.

Butler was 16 at the time, and was concerned his grandfather, Robert Toomer, would discover the tattoo on his left arm. Butler shared a tight bond with his grandfather and thought Toomer would be upset at the decision to get the tattoo without getting permission.

“I covered it for a while, but I knew when I came to the game he was going to see it,” Butler said. “He was like, ‘You got a tattoo? When did you do that? I didn’t sign off.’

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“He liked that we would talk about things. (Toomer said), ‘Why did you want to do it?’ I didn’t really know why I wanted to do it. I just knew I wanted a tattoo.”

When Butler was 17, his daughter Raven was born. He got a tattoo of Raven’s name on the right side of his arm. Right below it is her birthday: March 20, 1998.

Butler plans to have more kids. When he does, he said he will get each name tattooed on his ribs.

“That’s going to be a little painful,” he said.

Added Butler: “All my tattoos mean something. I just don’t have any randomness on my body. It has meaning to me.”

Asked which tattoo had the deepest meaning, Butler pointed to the one that involved his parents. Butler’s mother Cheryl, and father Felix Cheeseborough.

The tattoo is of a human heart located on Butler’s lower left arm. That tattoo is detailed, with arteries coming from the heart, and the message, “My lifeline,” written above. His mother’s name is at the top of the tattoo, “pumping blood into the heart,” while his father is in the middle.

“It says C-H-E-R-Y-L,” Butler explained. “The Y is attached to the heart to keep the heart alive.”

Butler then pointed to the part of the tattoo involving his father, who died when Butler was 8 years old.

“This says, ‘Your death wasn’t in vain because your blood runs through mine’ for my father,” Butler said. “It’s the connection between my mom and my dad. … This (tattoo) is my favorite one. It means the most. It’s the deepest because it’s for my dad who is gone, but my mom is represented in it and so am I.”

Butler is not concerned about how his tattoos will look a generation from now.

“I’m not worried about that,” he said. “For this time of my life, that’s what I wanted to do. It’s about right now. I don’t know what my story is going to be. I don’t know — people don’t like to talk about it — but you don’t know how long you’re going to live. … When I got these tattoos, they all meant something to me. They were at specific times when I needed to express myself and to remember some things, and have some visuals of it. They are tributes basically.”

On a sad note, another tribute will be needed.

Days after he was interviewed, Butler’s grandfather died. Butler said he will pay tribute to Toomer with another tattoo.

“Absolutely,” Butler confirmed. “I got to.”

LaMarcus Aldridge

Tattoos have deep meaning to Aldridge too, especially the one on his left arm that reads “Faith.”

“If I didn’t have faith, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “God kept me confident. God kept me working hard; helped me believe that I belonged here. Coming from where I come from, a lot of people don’t graduate, much less make it to the NBA.”

“Truly Blessed” is designed on Aldridge’s right arm. It’s a tattoo he got while in the 11th grade.

The tattoo triggers a trip down memory lane. The 30-year-old recalled his recruiting status (five-star, No. 16 in the nation in 2004) after playing at Seagoville High School in the Dallas area. Aldridge remembered the process that led him to the University of Texas and said he feels fortunate to be able to play the game he loves, which also allows him to take care of his family on the financial front.

“I just feel like I was blessed,” Aldridge said. “That’s just something I wanted to put out there.”

Aldridge’s chest and back are also covered — the most significant designs again dealing with faith.

“All my tattoos are thought out,” Aldridge said. “I’ve never got a tattoo on a whim. … Most of my tattoos have meaning and (are about) faith. Some guys just go get tattoos because it’s fun, but I didn’t do that.”

Tim Duncan

He put a lot of thought into most of what he estimated are his seven or eight tattoos. It wasn’t always this way, though.

At the end of his first season at Wake Forest, sometime in 1994, Duncan accompanied a few teammates to a tattoo parlor. He figured since he made the trip, he might as well get some body ink.

“I just kind of went with one of the wall pictures and picked something I liked,” Duncan recalled.

The first tattoo placed on the player they call the “Big Fundamental” was legendary magician Merlin.

“It just kind of caught my eye when I was there,” he said. “It wasn’t creative at first, but as you grow into it, you kind of figure out what you want and how you want to do it.”

Among the other tattoos on Duncan: a jester’s head, and the names of his children — Sydney and Draven — designed as anagrams on each wrist.

Duncan had his latest tattoo done over the summer. It covers the right side of his back. This particular tattoo, which required Duncan to sit through a few hours of pain, consists of “different mechanical parts, like biomechanics.”

Asked if he would complete his entire back, Duncan said no. “That’s a lot of pain.”

The 39-year-old isn’t finished, either. Duncan said he plans to continue exploring designs, but is currently taking a break.

“At some point I will (get more tattoos),” he said. “I’ll see something along the way, start putting some ideas together and kind of customize it around that.”

Right now, though, his focus is on leading the Spurs to their sixth championship.

David West

The Spurs newcomer has about a dozen tattoos on his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame.

The piece of body art that adorns West’s chest is an Ankh, an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph with various meanings related to life. It’s one of his favorites.

“Just another expression,” West explained. “I haven’t gone overboard. I try to keep them coverable.”

Jonathon Simmons

Simmons is the opposite of West. Simmons’ upper body is awash in tattoos, especially the top of his arms, which are covered in flames. The design is unique, so the assumption was there was some reasoning behind this particular art.

That assumption was incorrect, though.

Simmons shrugged, and said the fire flames were just fill-ins, something to put on his body for fun. The design is plain, with no coloring to allow the flames to stand out.

“I’m too dark for that,” joked Simmons, who estimated he has 20 tattoos on his body.

Simmons’ first tattoo was his name, a design he labeled “weak,” prompting him to get more. He explained the pain centered around the tattoo’s location — on his collarbone.

“It’s not that fun getting a needle in your skin, especially some places,” he said. “(The pain) has you about to cry. Not literally cry, but almost.”

jyoung@express-news.net

Twitter: @JabariJYoung