Calendar Boy gets used to pinup fame
Jack Coyne appears to have it all - brains, looks and, well, modesty.
A 1998 graduate of Euclid High School, Coyne, a pre-med student at Ohio State University, was chosen to pose as "Mr. December" in the university's 1993 "Campus Men® " calendar, which is distributed statewide and in South Florida.
When it came to picking his pose, though, Coyne decided it was best not show what some of the other men did.
While others in the calendar went with the briefest of bikini briefs, Coyne can be seen lying on the beach behind some scuba gear, showing little more of himself than a broad smile.
"(Sean Ashbrook, publisher of the calendar) leaves it up to you how revealing you want to be, " Coyne said. "I guess I was a little more modest than the other guys. I left a lot more to the imagination."
The former kicker on the Panther football team received compliments for that choice back home.
"I thought it was nice he was in the calendar," said Jack's father, Dave Coyne, a 28-year resident of Hawthorne Drive. "I'm glad he didn't go to the extremes the other boys did, though."
Dave Coyne said Jack's mother, Erna, who is taking classes to be a licensed practical nurse at Cuyahoga Community College, was asked to bring the calendar to class by her instructor.
"She didn't want to take away from class time and bring it in," he said. "She never wanted to bring it in, but everybody wanted to see it. When she did, everybody was saying, Oh, he's hot.'"
In all, the Coynes are parents to five girls and three boys, all of whom have attended, or are attending, Euclid High School.
While in Florida last June shooting the calendar, Jack Coyne said he and the other models were treated royally.
"We'd go into bars and they'd announce we were there," he said with a laugh. "It was exciting."
Coyne did television and radio shows in Florida, promoting the photo shoot, and did an advertising shoot for the scuba company that lent the props for his pose.
"It was the first time I was in Florida," he said. "I want to go back. I'd like to do more scuba diving."
Coyne, 22 and an OSU junior, said he was chosen because he knew some men who had been in previous editions of the calendar, which is a sequel to the popular, "Women of the Scarlet & Gray" calendar.
While Coyne said being Mr. December has made him a little more popular with the women on campus, his first taste of fame came while he was at his job at a Columbus warehouse.
"My boss told a little girls I was in the calendar while I was working in the back room, and she asked me for my autograph," Coyne said. "That was kind of neat."
Originally published Jan. 21, 1993. Story © Euclid Sun Journal. This text is exactly as published.