Larry Bird asks artist to remove tattoos from Indiana mural

An attempt to honour Larry Bird in his home state has backfired with the basketball great asking the artist to make major changes.

Larry Bird likes the mural but not the tats.

Artist Jules Muck, who was just trying to be funny, says she’ll remove most tattoos from a large painting of the former NBA star on an Indianapolis multi-family residence.

The mural is a replica of Bird’s appearance on a 1977 Sports Illustrated cover when he played college ball for Indiana State.

The tattoos include a basketball on the palm of his hand, the words “Indiana” and “Hoosier” (a Hoosier is a resident of Indiana), a Celtics-style shamrock (Bird played professionally in Boston), a cardinal (Indiana’s state bird), 1976 (the year he made his college debut), a spiderweb (which is meant to represent a basketball net) and two rabbits mating on his right arm.

The rabbits are the only personal touch — Muck has painted them across America and created a similar controversy on the side of an Indianapolis restaurant last year.

A 1977 Sports Illustrated photo shoot out-take the mural was based on.

Larry Bird was not a fan of the tattoos in this mural.

But Bird’s lawyer, Gary Sallee, says the former Indiana Pacers executive “needs to protect” his brand and “doesn’t want to be seen as a tattooed guy.”

“Larry’s position is he has elevated himself from where he began to where he is now through a lot of hard work. He has developed a brand that is marketable and he needs to protect that brand,” Sallee told IndyStar. “The mural, as originally painted, was a departure from that brand.”

“All of his friends and 98 per cent of his players are tattooed. He doesn’t have any problem with tattoos,” Sallee added. “He just doesn’t want to be seen as a tattooed guy.”

Muck told the Indianapolis Star the “Indiana” tattoo will remain on Bird’s arm in the mural.

“I don’t want to upset anybody, I don’t want to upset Larry Bird,” Muck told local radio.

“While I was painting this mural I was thinking ‘Larry’s going to get a kick out of this’, but you never know though.”

A mural of former NBA star Larry Bird. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)