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Old Rebel stars in new wrestling movie
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer

Jeff Harrison won three state titles as a wrestler at Westwood High School in Sloan, Iowa.

He also played the Cowardly Lion in the school's production of "Wizard of Oz."

Both activities served him well as a young professional starring in "7 Minutes" an independent film awaiting distribution.

The movie focuses on a college wrestling program in jeopardy of being dropped in the face of Title IX legislation.

"I'm the star wrestler and in the movie I have to be super shy and totally focused on winning and working all of the time," says Harrison, 24, who adds that his character pushes everyone and everything out of his life -- except wrestling.

Art doesn't imitate life in this case. As a student at Westwood, for example, Harrison wrestled, sang in show choir, played baseball, played golf, participated in student council and the Big Brother/Little Brother program.

"He was a good actor and he had a great singing voice," says Tom Gerking, who directed the Harrison in four years of show choir and two musicals, including "42nd Street," where Harrison tap danced as character Billy Lawler.

The son of Rita and Jack Harrison of Sloan, Harrison wrapped up his high school wrestling career with 167 victories and 11 losses. He earned a scholarship to wrestle at the University of Northern Iowa and qualified for the national meet in both his junior and senior campaigns.

That's where he met James Oliva, a movie director who once wrestled for Northern Illinois University.

"During my senior year I had read about James Oliva doing a wrestling movie," Harrison remembers. "That was my all-time dream. I'd done a couple of musicals in high school and loved it."

"He oozes with confidence," Gerking says. "He's was just one of those kids that nothing ever shook him."

Harrison sent Oliva an e-mail and the two met at the national meet. They talked and the movie director watched Harrison wrestle that weekend; watched him fall just short of All-America honors.

"He asked me to come to Chicago to audition and it went really well," Harrison says. "It felt natural. One week later he called to say they'd made up their mind to use me in the lead role."

Harrison memorized the script before traveling to Chicago that summer (2005) where he spent two intense weeks filming.

"I probably ran hard for seven or eight miles that first day," he says. "And I shadow wrestled. I was just exhausted. But I found that it's easier with the camera on you because it gives you motivation."

Harrison said he doubts the movie will hit theaters. There's a good chance it will end up in movie stores.

"Anything with a movie is a process," says Harrison, describing the lengthy timeline from start to end. "It's frustrating. I just want it out there so my friends can get it."

While Harrison wasn't paid for his acting (there are residuals), the experience served him well. It set him up for his own gig providing Division I wrestling commentary on a show broadcast over the Internet at http://www.thewrestlingrecap.com.

"It's a high-energy ESPN-type show I broadcast," Harrison says. "I don't make any money off the show. I lose a lot actually. But I keep in touch with the wrestling community."

This month he'll take his show to the NCAA nationals in Detroit.

How does he pay the bills? Harrison, who has a marketing degree from UNI, works in surgery daily for Stryker Endoscopy of San Jose, Calif. He's not a surgeon. He's an adviser who makes sure the equipment from Stryker Endoscopy works. According to Harrison, some of the company's equipment allows surgeons to use an audio command to surgically repair tissue.

"I'm in the operating room for any scope cases," he says. "I'm making sure the microphone that controls the instrument works. I teach surgeons and nurses how to operate the utensils."

The work keeps Harrison close to the sports world. So does play. In his spare time, he works out with the UNI Panthers wrestling team. A collegiate wrestler at 149 pounds, Harrison now weighs 160.

"I keep in touch with the wrestling community," he says. "It's fun. But I have found that you'll never be in college wrestling shape again."

Unless, of course, you're preserved forever on the big screen.