Getty Houston Texans safety Justin Reid.
I
t was Saturday, May 14 at noontime. Corey Jones and his son, Alonzo, were in the back of the Walmart parking lot in Clinton, Missouri. They were there to meet with none other than Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid.
Corey, a.k.a. “The Artist Chief,” is a 44-year-old artist based out of Springfield, Missouri. He considers himself a diehard Chiefs fan and combines his fandom with his artistic side to create paintings of many NFL players that have worn a Kansas City uniform over the years.
His paintings have helped raise money for charities such as The Boys and Girls Club of Joplin, MO, One Goal KC, Bra Couture KC, HopeKids KC, Spencer Ware and The Sickle Cell Foundation, Always and Furever Midwest Animal Sanctuary out of Spring Hill, Kansas, and SuperKids KC charity group.
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Jones has also donated paintings and artwork to Chiefs players and personalities such as L’Jarius Sneed, Darwin Thompson, Christian Okoye, Dante Hall, Chris Jones, Charcandrick West, BJ Kissel, Larry Johnson, Tamba Hali, Patrick Mahomes, and has done a commissioned piece for Patrick Mahomes Sr.
Fun fact: Spencer Ware drove all the way down to Clinton to come get a Painting from me for his charity event! (It was about halfway to KC from my house).
But let’s address how Jones and his son wound up in a Walmart parking lot with Reid.
Jones Gets Reid’s Attention on Twitter
One of Jones’ most recent paintings is of Reid, who Kansas City signed to a three-year, $31.5 million free agent deal on March 15. Jones drew inspiration for the painting from a photo he saw online of Reid during his four seasons with the Houston Texans.
On April 10, Corey shared his finished piece on Twitter with his followers and tagged Reid in the post in an attempt to get his attention. And it worked.
“Man, this I awesome!! Really great work, I’d be happy to compensate you or trade you some signed memorabilia my guy,” Reid replied the next morning.
The two connected via direct messages and made a plan to meet up in a couple of weeks. They chose to meet up in Clinton, Missouri, which was about a 90-minute drive for Corey and Alonzo. It’s unknown exactly how far Reid had to drive, but Jones estimated that Reid had to travel “at least” an hour based on how far Clinton is from Kansas City.
Meeting Reid was far from the end of the experience, though.
Reid Goes Above & Beyond for 2 Grateful Fans
While making conversation with the two Chiefs fans, Reid went into his vehicle to pull out the compensation he wanted to give Jones in exchange for the painting: A No. 20 Chiefs jersey — Reid’s jersey — which Reid signed with a personalized message: “Appreciate you guys love and support! Big fan of your work!!!”
Reid also signed several more prints at the request of Jones, along with his friend’s football.
JUSTIN REID is the absolute BEST! Happy tears! 🥲😁 Thank you sooooooo much @JustinqReid #ChiefsKingdom @Chiefs @mitchholthus @MarkSpillane_ The Chiefs organization should be very proud of him!
“Just that line, ‘big fan of your work’… I was in tears after he left,” Jones told Heavy. “I just couldn’t believe that [Reid] did that, and he still went ahead and signed like five prints for me and he signed my friend’s football. It was just incredible. … Not a lot of players are willing to do all of that.”
Jones shared the news of the meetup with Reid with his Twitter followers, and Reid gave him one last shoutout.
“It was an absolute pleasure to meet you and your son. Keep up the great work bro!” Reid tweeted on May 14.