Oklahoma inmate Eric Torpy’s favorite player always was Larry Bird.
His allegiance to the iconic Boston Hall of Famer led him to ask a judge to tack on three more years to his original 30-year sentence for armed robbery and two counts of shooting with intent to kill to match Bird’s jersey number in 2005.
The judge obliged and Torpy has spent the last six years in a 10-foot-by-15-foot cell at the Davis Correctional Unit in Holdenville, Okla.
“He said if he was going down, he was going to go down in Larry Bird’s jersey,’’ Oklahoma District Judge Ray Elliott told the Associated Press in 2005. “He was just as happy as he could be.’’
Today, Torpy.
“Now that I have to do that time, yes I do,’’ Torpy told the Boston Globe. “I kind of wished that I had 30 instead of 33. Recently, I’ve wisened up.
“That three is a big deal, you know? Three years matters.’’
Torpy’s body is kind of a shrine to Bird and the Celtics. Put his arms together and the tattoos on his elbows read “33.’’ He also has a small green shamrock tattooed near his eye.
The Globe also reports that Torpy will turn 33 later this year and is not eligible for parole until 2033.