Centreville Artist Makes His Mark on the Sports World

Most people know Troy Hayes as a teacher who's taught art at for the last seven years. But on the side Hayes is a sports artist who's quietly sold to the likes of former NFL stars Reggie Bush and Marion Barber.

Five years ago Hayes put together his first sports 3D type painting, using old shoulderpads that the football program was going to throw out anyway and jerseys from the kids at school. 

"Instead of molding a chinguard or painting it, I'd just glue it on," said Hayes, who started out mostly painting football scenes, but has since moved on to paint basketball as well. 

Generally it takes a couple months to finish a single painting. A self-identified "perfectionist," Hayes will sometimes spend hours working on a single nose or eyeball. "A lot of people think that's crazy," he said. But it's hard to argue with the results. 

Hayes started selling his artwork at sports shows at the and in Edison, N.J. three or four times a year. Pro athletes who had come to sign autographs would see his work while walking by and were impressed by the result. Former football stars like Emmett Smith, D'Angelo Hall and Jerome Bettis have all commissioned paintings from Hayes. 

Hayes, who taught elementary school for three years before coming to CVHS, hasn't let the success go to his head, but acknowledges that there's something exciting about selling to the rich and famous. "To sell to people with that kind of money and that kind of power, it's more satisfying," he said. 

The next challenge for the married father of two is to make his next painting even more 3D, and expand on to painting additional sports.

"It's fun for me," he said. "Some of the challenge for me is, how can I make the next one even better than the last one?"