Back in 1987, I made my motion picture debut in was an extra in “Campus Man,” a comedy filmed largely on the campus of Arizona State University while I was a student there. I’ve written about the experience before -- I spent about 10 hours filming a pool scene that went until roughly 4 in the morning, only to discover that I’m not actually visible in the finished movie.
What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was just how closely the film was connected to a real bit of ASU history.
I knew “Campus Man” was inspired by an actual all-male pinup calendar, which I later learned was created by ASU student Todd Headlee and five friends in 1980. Each chipped in $1,000 to produce the first edition, the 1981 “Men of ASU,” featuring 12 male ASU students.
And apparently they knew their market. A 1982 Time magazine article described Arizona State as a “Sunbelt country club,” where modeling agents regularly scouted the abundance of good-looking students. (I can vouch for the abundance.) The first 5,000 copies of “Men of ASU” quickly sold out.
What I didn't know is that the venture also produced some unexpected complications. In 1981, ASU football player Scott Lewis, who had appeared in the calendar and subsequently took professional modeling jobs, was declared ineligible after his modeling work was found to conflict with NCAA rules, causing him to lose his scholarship. According to the State Press, the campus newspaper I later reported for, Lewis said the athletic department had initially told him his modeling would not jeopardize his eligibility.
Scott Lewis lost his football scholarship but gained a modeling career.
That real-life episode became the inspiration for “Campus Man.” In the film, the calendar jeopardizes the amateur standing of its star model, champion diver Brett Wilson -- echoing what had happened to Lewis.
Meanwhile, Headlee -- himself Mr. April in the first calendar -- bought out his original partners, borrowed money and spent $5,200 on an ad in Playgirl for the 1982 edition. The gamble paid off, generating some 10,000 orders from around the world. After graduating, he loaded calendars into his van and hawked them at colleges in 19 states, eventually selling 27,000 copies at $4.95 apiece.
As the calendar's popularity grew, so did its scope. What began as “Men of ASU” evolved into “Campus Men USA,” with models recruited beyond Arizona State and the calendar marketed to a national audience. By the 1983 edition, it was no longer simply a collection of ASU students, but a broader assortment of college-age models from around the country.
A few years later, Headlee's entrepreneurial story made its way to Hollywood. “Campus Man” fictionalized the circumstances, with John Dye (RIP) playing Todd Barrett, a business student who needs $10,000 to stay in school and comes up with the idea of producing a beefcake calendar featuring male athletes to raise the money. Steve Lyon plays his reluctant star model, diver Brett Wilson, with Kim Delaney, Kathleen Wilhoite, Miles O'Keeffe (whose turn as Tarzan in 1981 didn't exactly prevent me from turning out gay) and Morgan Fairchild rounding out the cast.
Lights, camera, action: Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex. Let me know if you see me!
Morgan Fairchild means business
Steve Lyon stole the film as diver Brett Wilson
Which brings me to the reason for this new post: After years of wondering about the calendars at the heart of this scandal -- which is so quaint by today's OnlyFans standards -- I recently came across all of the photos from the 1983 “Campus Men USA” edition, along with one from 1982’s.
So here they are -- the real calendar men behind the phenomenon that eventually inspired the movie I spent one very long night pretending to be in -- BELOW.
