The eye-black cross smeared down former Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry’s cheek is just as it should be.
So is Henry’s nose ring and determined, furrowed eyebrows.
Pete Gibson’s portrait tattoo of Henry on his right thigh is as close to perfect as you’ll find. The only imperfection is that Henry no longer suits up for Gibson’s beloved Tennessee Titans and instead plays for the rival Baltimore Ravens
.Gibson, 35, owns Pride and Glory Tattoo Parlor in downtown Nashville. He’s seen lots of people get tattoos and later resent them for losing their magic.
“A big one is people getting portraits of their dogs they got in, like, 1999,” Gibson said, “and now it turns out, they don’t remember anything about that dog.”
When the Titans (0-3) play
the Baltimore Ravens (2-1) on Oct. 4 (noon, CBS) at M&T Bank Stadium, it will mark the first time the Titans have played against Henry since he left the organization in free agency following the 2023 season.
Henry gained custody of a lot of fans in the divorce as his old team wanders in the wilderness, now 19-49 since 2022.
People who spilled ink for him don’t seem to regret it at all.
“He’s what an icon is,” Gibson said. “I don’t think anybody getting a Dolly Parton portrait is going to regret that, and that’s how I think of Derrick Henry. I actually appreciate it more the more he keeps doing it."
Henry certainly has done that.
In his first season in Baltimore in 2024, he rushed for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns. Henry had 16 TDs last season as well, when he rushed for 1,595 yards. He has 301 yards and six TDs so far this season entering Sunday.
Henry is ninth on the NFL all-time rushing list with 13,319 yards, behind Jerome Bettis, who has 13,662.
Two tattoos, two sides of memorable Ravens-Titans divisional title
Every tattoo tells a story of why it was etched in the first place.
Gibson and his wife and their two friends traveled to Baltimore when the Titans upset the Ravens 28-12 for the divisional title in the 2019-20 season. Henry ran for 195 yards and threw a touchdown pass.
“I talked to a buddy about it beforehand,” Gibson said. “I said, ‘I’m going to get a Derrick Henry tattoo if we go up there and we win.’ It’s ironic Henry’s with them (the Ravens) now.”
Sam Smith, 36, is a former military historian for the government who moved home to Nashville after he was laid off during Department of Government Efficiency cuts. He also needed to look after his dad who had suffered multiple strokes.
Smith went out and purchased a Henry tattoo — a caricature of Henry in a Marvel comic book-like pose — hours before the Titans-Ravens divisional game.
The ink had power.
“As I was walking out of the tattoo shop, I had a spare $20 on me and I gave it to a homeless man,” Smith said. “He said, ‘Oh man, this is great, what can I do?’
“I said, ‘Root for the Titans tonight.’”
No regrets.
"I hope Derrick rushes for 200 yards (this week) and the Ravens lose a heartbreaker," Smith said. "He doesn't owe me anything."
‘Why would you get that?
None of this is weird to veteran Titans safety Amani Hooker, who is properly tatted up and was raised by a diehard Green Bay Packers fan father.
Several of Hooker’s personal tattoos were done at Gibson’s original parlor on 2nd Avenue, before the shop was totaled in the 2020 downtown bombing.
“They’re fans, man,” Hooker said. “It’s like anything else if you enjoy something a lot like that. I have things on my body where some people say, ‘Why would you get that?’ But it doesn’t really matter. If you enjoy a team or athletes and that’s who you look up to, I respect it.”
A lifelong Houston Oilers fan living in Edmonton, Kentucky, 48-year-old Mitch Firkins couldn’t believe his luck when the team relocated less than two hours away from him in 1998.
Six years later, his life changed.
His mom, Linda, died in 2004, and since then he’s “just had all kinds of problems,” he says. Firkins has cycled through anxiety and depression medications in hopes of finding the right ones for him. He filed for government disability.
What never changed were the Titans, no matter how much they won or lost.
“No sooner than Sunday’s over when they play, I’m wishing the next Sunday was already here,” Firkins said. “Of course I want them to win. But I also don’t care if they don’t win a game.”
Firkins is known in online circles as “The Great One,” a prototypical No. 1 fan.
His body glistens with ink for past Titans: Logos that have since been redesigned, portraits of Steve McNair and Marcus Mariota, the old T-Rac mascot, and even a signature of Mike Keith, who left as the team’s longtime play-by-play announcer in 2025. One tattoo is a prediction gone wrong, reading “2017 AFC South Champions.”
The $250 tattoo of a baby blue No. 22 crown titled “King Henry” took about four hours.
“It broke my heart when he left,” Firkins said, “because everybody was saying he was washed up and wouldn’t be no good no more. And I knew that wasn’t the case. I think he’s better now.”
This loyalty isn’t only about tattoos. According to research published in The Journal of Popular Culture, “people are more likely to choose a tattoo design that is congruent with a corresponding positive self-image and the identity they want to project to others.”
The way Henry never stopped running through defenders, Firkins, who recently welcomed a baby boy into his life, isn’t stopping either.
Firkins wouldn’t be true to himself if he regretted any of the 30-plus Titans tattoos on his body.
“I’ve had people ask me that. I’ve had people put me down,” Firkins said. “That don’t bother me. These guys have been in with the Titans, and that’s all I have to say about my tattoos.”
Tyler Palmateer covers the Tennessee Titans for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform,@tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Do Tennessee Titans fans with Derrick Henry tattoos have regrets? We asked them
