When Terrence Roberts enters a room, eyes turn to him. He’s 6-foot-9 and 228 pounds, which by nature, draws attention from the average onlooker. He also plays basketball for Syracuse, which by nature draws attention from the average Syracuse student.

What they see is not simply one of the most recognizable faces on campus, but one of the most recognizable canvases on campus.

Athletes and tattoos are a common union, sometimes even a defining characteristic of the player. In basketball, it’s even more evident considering that much of a player’s body is exposed. The unique part is the thought that goes into each one.

There’s a certain psyche involved in getting a tattoo, allowing the body to be pierced with everlasting artwork. For Roberts, though, his 10 tattoos aren’t just artwork. His body’s a storyboard, with each tattoo symbolizing a story from his life. Here is his story:

TATTOO 1: This is the first tattoo, the one that took the most planning. It’s an homage to his cousin, Kevin, who died in car accident when Roberts was a young teenager. Roberts wanted to memorialize his cousin, but couldn’t. His parents didn’t let him get a tattoo until he was 18-years-old, and his high school basketball coach-the legendary Bob Hurley from St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, N.J.-didn’t allow his players to have tattoos.

This wasn’t negotiable. Roberts had to wait. In New Jersey, playing for Hurley carries significance. The coach had a 2005 book written about him, devoted to the miracle-like ability to bring a small, poor Catholic school in one of New Jersey’s roughest neighborhoods into a national powerhouse in basketball-and one that graduates its players.

Some of his other high school teammates, like former Seton Hall guard Donald Copeland and New Mexico State’s Elijah Ingram, got tattoos after graduating, too. But Roberts was the first one to ‘go crazy.’

‘They’re very addictive,’ Roberts said. ‘You get one, and you look at that one tattoo, and the rest of your body feels naked.’

TATTOO 2: As a graduation present, Roberts’ mother brought Terrence to Daytona Beach, Fla. He was in a tattoo parlor when he saw the design for a tattoo that read, ‘God Given Talent.’

It was ink at first blink.

‘I saw this, I thought it was really cool and it felt like it was coming out of my skin,’ Roberts said. ‘I decided to get that on me.’

Syracuse fans have seen flashes of that God-given talent throughout the past three seasons, with his scoring and rebounding averages jumped from 2.1 and 2.0 freshman year to 7.2 and 3.9 sophomore year to 10.7 and 7.6 junior year. He also hit an improbable game-winning 3-pointer against Rutgers last season in a win that kept the Orange in contention for the Big East tournament.

It used the Big East tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament, though in Roberts’ three seasons, SU has won just two tournament games. If it expects to get past the first round this season-something the Orange hasn’t done since 2004-it will partly depend on the words that he saw coming out of his skin.

TATTOO 3: In SummerStart before Roberts’ freshman season, he was introduced to a Bible scripture from fellow freshman Demetris Nichols that read, ‘God is my strength and my power.’ It was part of plaque in Nichols’ room, and Nichols and Roberts both decided to have it etched on their skin.

It was the summer of 2003; just months after the program captured its first national championship. The hierarchal class system didn’t apply anymore, either, considering the championship team’s star player was freshman Carmelo Anthony and starting point guard was freshman Gerry McNamara.

Roberts entered with Nichols, Darryl Watkins and Louie McCroskey. The first three make up SU’s starting frontline. McCroskey transferred to Marist during the summer.

But when they first arrived on campus, the hype was different than it is now. No one knew them. They just knew SU started two freshmen on a national championship team the year before.

‘Our motto this summer has been that we’re the Fab Four,’ Roberts said in September 2003. ‘We’ve got four Carmelo Anthony’s coming in this year again.’

He was confident, to say the least, which isn’t surprising for a player with a divine intervention on his wrist.

TATTOO 4: Dorothy Johnson has 11 grandchildren, but it was her grandson Terrence’s heart that brought her tears.

Etched on his left chest, covering his heart, is a tribute to Johnson, Roberts’ paternal grandmother.

‘She’s always with me, a big supporter of me,’ Roberts said. ‘She welcomed me into her house. I wanted to do this for her.’

Roberts didn’t tell his grandmother, though. She heard from her son, Terrence’s father, about the tattoo. When she first saw it the summer after his freshman year, Terrence said ‘it brought tears to her eyes.’

Because of the schedule, Terrence doesn’t see her too often. Dorothy lives in Salisbury, Md. The family has big reunions during the summer, when Dorothy said they try to get together for at least four barbecues.

At 79, she doesn’t drive and can’t travel. But she’s thinking of him all the time, she said. And not the way the fan in section in 113 is.

‘I love him to death,’ Dorothy said. ‘I’m always wanting to know how he’s doing, especially how he’s doing in school. I try to watch as many games as I can from there to here. But, oh, I’m very proud.’

TATTOO 5: Terrence Roberts doesn’t have favorite teams. He has favorite players. One of those players is the Denver Nuggets’ Kenyon Martin.

Roberts is often told he looks like Martin. They’re both 6-foot-9. Both are black. Both play especially emotional power forwards. Both wear headbands and mouth guards. Martin wears No. 6. Roberts wears No. 33 because 3+3=6.

On Martin’s chest, he famously has a tattoo that reads, ‘Bad Ass Yellow Boy.’ He exposed it on the cover of an April 2002 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Almost three years later, Roberts had the initials ‘B.A.Y.B.’ inked onto his arm. His logic was he didn’t want to be exactly Martin, but wanted to pay tribute. The two almost met during Roberts’ senior year at St. Anthony’s. Martin, then on the New Jersey Nets, came to a St. Anthony’s practice. They were never formally introduced. With a good season, it could happen next year-in the NBA, where most assuredly, Roberts will have a favorite team.

TATTOO 6 and 7: Roberts admits, with hesitation and resentment in the voice, that every now and then he gets injured or sick. He has trouble admitting it, though, and most assuredly won’t sit out.

It sounds corny, but he can look at his two biceps. ‘No Pain’ on one. ‘No Gain’ on the other. It says it right there. No time to take a back seat-someone else will catch up.

‘I always felt bad if I didn’t practice if I was hurt or sick,’ Roberts said. ‘I try to play everyday.’

Roberts had this tattooed on him the summer before his junior year. It was the summer after the graduation of two SU post players, Hakim Warrick and Craig Forth-both starters since their freshman seasons. Roberts was going to become a full-time starter the next season. The frontcourt was going to be partly his responsibility.

And he couldn’t sit out.

‘It’s just not my mentality,’ Roberts said. ‘My mentality is ‘No pain, no gain.”

TATTOO 8: This was a team effort.

Josh Wright, Syracuse’s point guard, calls Roberts ‘Bam-Bam,’ like the character from The Flintstones. Wright gave Roberts the nickname at the beginning of last season. Roberts liked it, and being an information technology major, he tried to put together images of Bam-Bam hitting a backboard on Photoshop. Roberts is into gadgets, and compiled a picture.

He then gave what he had to center Darryl Watkins, who Roberts said is a talented drawer. Watkins sketched the image to Roberts’ satisfaction, and he brought the image to The Tattoo Depot in Liverpool.

They touched it up, then drew it on his back.

But that’s only the left side of his back. The right side is still bare-the spot for his next tattoo, which will be an homage to his deceased dog.

TATTOO 9 and 10: When Roberts’ mother, Consuella Roberts, saw the tattoo on his heart of his paternal grandmother, she wondered why he didn’t have one of his maternal grandmother.

So he did one better: He got his mother’s initials on the inside of his right wrist. He got the initials of his father, Wayne Johnson, on the inside of his other wrist. Whenever he sticks out his hands, he has his parents there.

It’s important to Roberts, considering he spends most of his time in Syracuse. He lives alone in his South Campus apartment, which is how he likes it. It’s a typical 22-year-old’s apartment, and that brings up another point.

Roberts won’t always be 22. And tattoos look awfully different on a 22-year old than a 42-year old. He’s not worried, though.

‘I’m not going to let my body get saggy and droopy,’ Roberts said. ‘I’m the type of guy who will keep in shape. And even if they get saggy and droopy, I’ll be the type of guy who’ll be rich wearing Armani suits all the time, so no one will see.’

Published on November 6, 2006 at 12:00 pm