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 encourage me to be straight) and Morgan Fairchild rounding out the cast.
Lights, camera, action: The 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 post: After years of wondering about the calendars at the heart of this tale -- quaint as it all seems by today's OnlyFans standards -- I recently came across the complete 1983 “Campus Men USA” edition, along with the cover photo from 1982.
See them all -- the real calendar men behind the movie I spent one very long night trying to be in -- BELOW.
Before Dolph Fick made it big in New York City as a model, he made a splash on the cover of the 1982 “Men of ASU” calendar. (Contact me if you have this or the equally elusive 1981 edition.)
Sadly, he died in 2016 of a heart attack at just 55. RIP.
"Campus Men USA" 1983 edition
Mr. January: Jeff Bartels
Mr. February: Dave Lindman
Mr. March: Don Kriske (my personal favorite lol)
Mr. April: Ben Chloupek
Mr. May: Scott Lewis, whose story inspired the film
Mr. June: Tim Wright
This is the photo from the 1983 “Campus Men USA” calendar that launched the 19-year-old’s modeling career
Mr. July: Andy Roediger
Mr. August: Mike Witherill
Mr. September: Michael Spasiano
Mr. October: Corby Timbrook
Mr. November: Dolph Fick, 1982's cover boy
Mr. December: Andrew Smith
Mr. Smith poolside
1983 Campus Men USA photos by Frank Simon
Creator Todd Headlee and model Scott Lewis hit the road to promote the “Campus Men USA” calendar at the 1983 American Booksellers Convention. They ended up getting it into more than 1,500 bookstores across the country, where it became a bestseller.
See how the film's stand-in models compare with the print boys!
The reviews are in!
The fact that reviewer Walter Goodman thinks John Dye is "indistinguishable" from the other "young fellows" tells me everything I need to know about his sexual proclivities(!).
The State Press reported on the NCAA football scandal that followed Scott Lewis’s appearance in the “Men of ASU” calendar. This tempest in a jockstrap helped set in motion the events that led to the “Campus Man” film.
Scott Lewis in the early 1980s
Q&A
Todd Headlee recently
I tracked down Todd Headlee, creator of the original “Men of ASU” calendar, who now works as a real estate agent in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was kind enough to answer my questions about how the whole thing began.
Kenneth: Fill me in: Was this considered the first beefcake calendar, or were you inspired by something you’d seen before?
Todd Headlee: Yes, the 1981 version was the first of its kind featuring college men. It’s crazy no one ever thought of it before. When it first came out, there were literally long lines outside the campus bookstore and down the street to get it. We sold out 5,000 copies the first two days.
I was inspired by "The Girls of ASU" calendar that the Pike fraternity did every year. I lived in the SAE house across the street. This particular year, the guy at the Pike house who produced the calendar decided to veer away from the strict headshots calendar to a bit racier calendar, with girls in bikinis and more revealing poses.
There was this huge protest by a women’s group on campus, and it was the lead story on all the local TV news channels. So I was thinking, if I came out with a guys’ version -- which had never been done -- we could piggyback on all the publicity.
Sure enough, my hunch was right. The "Men of ASU" calendar became an even bigger story. Time magazine wrote a story about it, movie producers started calling, and the rest is history.
Kenneth: How did "Men of ASU" evolve into "Campus Men USA"?
Todd: Copycats like Chippendales and firemen calendars and everyone under the sun jumped on the bandwagon, which is why in 1983 I changed the name of the calendar to "Campus Men USA" so I could go nationwide in bookstores and not have to use just ASU guys.
Four of the guys from the first two calendars got signed at top New York modeling agencies and went on to be top male models during the ’80s. That also gave me access to other top or up-and-coming male models who were still college students to put on the calendar.
Kenneth: How many years did you produce the calendar?
Todd: I only did 1981, 1982 and 1983. Then I graduated from ASU and moved to L.A. to sell an unpublished autobiography I wrote called “Mr. September” and turn it into a movie, which ultimately became “Campus Man.” I had bigger fish to fry. I was bored with the calendars after three years, plus the novelty had worn off because everyone was doing it. I was able to take it national for the ’83 calendar before everyone else got that far.
Kenneth: Do you keep in touch with any of the guys from those days?
Todd: I’ve really lost touch with most of them. Dolph passed away 10 years ago. ... Steve Lyon called me a few months ago, and we had a nice chat catching up. He’s a pretty successful photographer now.
I have no idea what ever happened to Scott Lewis. I wish I could find him. He was one of the sweetest guys ever ... and so ridiculously gorgeous.
It’s funny, both Dave Lindman -- who was my best friend and roommate at ASU -- and Scott Lewis didn’t want to be on the calendar when I first asked them because they didn’t think they took good pictures. They were both very shy and unassuming and had no idea how attractive they were. In today’s world of narcissism, that would be refreshing.
Kenneth: What do you remember about making the film?
Todd: I got banned from the set part of the time. Ha ha. “Creative differences.” I’m not kidding. I was constantly fighting with the director. It was very frustrating because we were dealing with a story that was mostly true. But it gets in the hands of these Hollywood types and they make up all this bullshit that’s not even funny and is much less interesting than the original story. So I kept getting very frustrated with the stuff they made up, which was just dumb.
Remember, “Campus Man” was based on Scott Lewis’s true story of getting kicked off the football team and losing his football scholarship because he posed for the calendar, and then parlaying that into a lucrative modeling career, thanks to Bruce Weber. This was a very interesting element of the story because Scott went through absolute hell after losing his scholarship. He was devastated. He did not want to be a model; he wanted to be a professional football player. So I was dealing with that whole thing, too. All of it was lost in the movie.
They also changed the main character to a diver rather than a football player because they felt that diving and water were better visuals for a story that was set in the desert. It was just one thing after another that I was very disappointed about.
Ironically, the whole issue with the NCAA and Scott losing his scholarship was over selling your likeness. Back in the ’80s, NCAA athletes who were on scholarship weren’t allowed to make money from their likeness. Now that’s a huge issue because they’ve allowed college athletes to make millions of dollars from their names and likenesses. That’s why some of these football players are millionaires when they’re sophomores in college.
I wish I could remake “Campus Man” now -- it would be so much more fun, and sexier, with a real human story at its core.
Kenneth: And what are you doing these days?
Todd: I’ve been selling high-end luxury residential real estate for nearly 20 years.
I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve actually been played twice in movies: "Campus Man" (John Dye, left) in 1987 and "Girl You Know It’s True" (Graham Rogers, right) in 2023. I was an associate producer on both.
"Girl You Know It’s True" was the Milli Vanilli story. I was one of their managers during their rise and epic fall from fame. Needless to say, I’ve had a colorful life.
It’s kind of funny because when I left Arizona to get my movie made, everyone thought I was nuts. They said, “Get over yourself. No one is going to make a movie about your silly calendar.” I believed in the idea and kept going. It took me four years, but I finally got it done.
I got the same flak with the Milli Vanilli movie. That also started with an unpublished autobiography I wrote called “Blame It on the Rain,” which I initially sold the option to Mimi Gitlin, the producer of “Thelma & Louise.” But, as happens with many projects, they ultimately passed on it, and it got bounced around to several producers until somehow the writer-director of “Girl You Know It’s True” tracked me down from Germany and we were able to put it together. It only took nearly 30 years, but my idea for a Milli Vanilli movie got done, too.
Ultimately, I was very disappointed by how "Campus Man" turned out. It was so silly. The real story was infinitely more interesting and fun. With the Milli Vanilli movie, I thought overall it turned out very well, but there were a lot of missed opportunities with the real story that were totally brushed over in the movie.
Kenneth: So I have to ask this final question. Did you ever “get anything” off any of those calendar men?
Todd: As far as I know, they were all straight. But, at the time, I thought I was too. 🤣🤣🤣 I was so young back then.
If any of the original models -- or anyone connected to the film -- sees this, please contact me HERE!
Calendar boy (1988)
P.S. Todd wasn't kidding about copycats. A search for the 1981 and 1982 ASU editions turned up all sorts of things, including the 1990-91(?) Indiana University Bloomington Alpha Delta Pi Campus Men calendar. The boys are cute, but they're no Sun Devils!
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