Auburn grad commemorates Toomer’s Corner oaks with a wild back tattoo
With the final Toomer’s Trees rolling slated for Saturday following Auburn’s spring scrimmage, some folks are getting a little nostalgic for the iconic trees that were poisoned and subsequently need to be removed.
Auburn graduate Giancarlo Guida is one of those people.
Guida, a 2002 graduate and former rugby player, wasn’t ready to part with the trees, so he decided to tattoo their image across his back.
No, really.
The ridiculously large tattoo features Samford Hall, one of the Toomer’s Oaks, fully in bloom and rolled, and a rugby ball resting at the base of the tree. It is quite poetic.
According to The War Eagle Reader, the tattoo was done in Atlanta and took two six-hour sessions to complete.
“I thought that was a great way to capture the trees after that [expletive] killed them,” Guida told the website.
In 2010, Alabama fan Harvey Updyke poisoned the Toomer’s Corner oaks with a lethal herbicide combination. He was sentenced to three years in prison last month.
After fans roll the oaks one final time on Saturday, they will be torn down on April 23. The city plans to replace the oaks with polls and wires until it can plant new trees.
“The Oaks at Toomer’s Corner have been a part of Auburn tradition for generations,” Debbie Shaw, Auburn University vice president for alumni affairs and executive director of the Auburn Alumni Association, said. “Their removal will in no way diminish the Auburn Spirit, which has grown even stronger during these past two years.”
Giancarlo Guida would agree.
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H/T The War Eagle Reader for the photo and story
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