The man Behind the Ink of Ohio State’s athletes

Ohio State football tight end Cade Stover raised black Angus cattle growing up and recalls a picture of one of his bulls exhaling steam. 

He hoped to imprint this special memory in more than just a photograph. 

During Stover’s freshman year, he phoned a shop frequently visited by teammates, Tattoo Cartel, when T King, who would soon become a go-to artist for many Ohio State athletes, answered the phone.  

“I didn’t know [what artist] did them,” Stover said. “I was a freshman so I didn’t know anything.”

King had an opening and gave Stover his first-ever tattoo, a black Angus bull. Since then, he’s worked on Stover’s right arm up onto his chest, planning to complete a whole sleeve soon. 

King is now a popular name in the Columbus tattoo scene, especially among student-athletes at Ohio State. However, Stover’s tattoos have caught the attention of dozens of people, both on and off the field. 

“I probably fed [King’s] number to 100 different people,” Stover said. 

Soon after his encounter with Stover, King opened his own shop, Tattoo Kings & Cuts, in 2019. This, however, was never King’s original plan. 

“I thought I’d be opening a corner store, a drive-through, or something along those lines,” King said. 

King said he remembers his first encounter with the art profession as a child, watching his mother create commissioned family portrait oil paintings in the living room while the television played in the background.  

Unlike many kids, King said he had no care for the programming on the television as he was mesmerized by his mother’s talent. 

“The dad had an afro with Jheri curls, and how she painted it with the curls and the highlights of white, it was so intricate,” King said.

Although King said he was fascinated by his mother’s gift, he never thought a career in the arts would be where he would find his passion. He said he majored in business at a small college in West Virginia, Glenville State University. 

The thought of touching a tattoo gun never crossed his mind until a friend of his insisted on getting tattooed by him after seeing a piece of his artwork in graphite, he said. 

“I tattooed, 100% real, on his wrist, and it went from that to his whole chest, and I just never looked back,” King said. 

King tattooed Stover — his first Ohio State athlete — around 10 years into his career, but Stover wouldn’t be his last. King said he has now tattooed student-athletes of various sports ranging from football, basketball, wrestling and track. 

King said his foundations rest on family, faith and trust.

“I’m a firm believer in laws of the universe, and I believe as long as God knows that you’re on the right path, he’s gonna bless you,” King said. 

Sophomore forward Cotie McMahon, a second-year in sport industry on the Ohio State women’s basketball team, said she feels welcome by King as his principles are similar to hers. 

“He’s very passionate in what he does and not only from a tattoo standpoint,” McMahon said.  “He’s a very family-oriented guy and he loves the Lord. I feel like I can trust him with anything. If I can nearly trust him with my life, why not trust him with my tattoos?”

Stover said King’s talent, humility and family-oriented principles make him easy to trust. 

“I would trust him to freehand anything on me because he is just absolutely unbelievable,” Stover said. “To say I trust him is an understatement.” 

Devin Royal, a freshman in sport industry on Ohio State’s men’s basketball team, said he always believes King’s judgment when going to him.

“I trust him so much that when he did [the sleeve on my leg] I was just like, ‘I’m gonna tell you some ideas, just do what you got to do,’ and I loved it, it was great.”

The pressure to do justice to ideas his clients bring that are often personal and emotional is high but of utmost importance to King, he said. 

“They are allowing me to leave my mark on them, they’re entrusting me with doing this for them,” King said. “I don’t think I could ever take it for granted. It’s a constant appreciation.”

King said everything has perfectly aligned throughout his career magically and unexpectedly. It’s still something he can’t quite process or explain, he said.