Football team huddles in theater to see their 3 minutes of fame
Players dressed in their Arlington Cowboys youth football jerseys huddled together this week, but not for a game.
They took over one of the Arlington Theaters to watch the new movie, "The Express," which opened last weekend.
Turns out, they were more than casual fans. These movie patrons had a vested interest in the new Universal Studios release.
In June 2007, some 80 players from the Arlington Heights Youth Athletic Association's football program were selected as extras for the movie, which recounts the story of the first black Heisman Trophy winner, Ernie Davis.
Their early scenes re-enacted Davis' youth, playing Small Fry football in Elmira, N.Y., as the only black person on the team.
"Of our two days of filming and one day of rehearsal, we were in roughly 3 minutes of the movie," said Hal Zabrin, league representative with the Arlington Cowboys. "But it was fun to be a part of it."
Zabrin's son, Jeff, was chosen to play quarterback on Davis' youth team, and he even earned a spot in the movie credits, for his speaking part, which came down to "Ready, set, spike."
"All the kids in the theater were pretty excited," says Zabrin, now a sophomore football player at Buffalo Grove High School. "Kids at school ask me about it all the time."
Andre Campbell of Arlington Heights was selected as the photo double for actor Justin Martin, who plays the young Ernie Davis. His body is seen during the action shots, as well as an early scene of him running from white youths who are taunting him.
However, most of the Cowboys had only seconds of face time in the film, if that. However, they made an impact, officials said.
Allan Graf, the movie's second unit coordinator and football director, led the casting call that took place in Arlington Heights. It drew nearly 200 of the Cowboys to audition, and from those, he took 80 youngsters, roughly around the ages of 11 and 12.
"I was looking for football experience," Graf said at the time, "since I knew we didn't have time to do a lot of takes."
It turns out, he said, he got that and more.
"What I found were some great faces in there," Graf said. "Since we're talking about the 1950s, when they didn't wear face masks, we needed to see a lot of freckly-faced 11- and 12-year-olds."
In the 15 months since their filming, those freckly-faced players have been left to wonder whether their brush with Hollywood would make it past the editing room floor.
It appears, it has.
Random exit interviews after the film, elicited good reviews from the young players, who all gave the film a "thumbs up" review, especially after seeing themselves in it.
"I thought I saw myself in the huddle," exclaimed 12-year-old Andrew Hansen of Arlington Heights.
Likewise, Shane Ryan and Sean Cooney, both of Arlington Heights, saw themselves as safeties on Davis' youth team, running up to tackle the star running back.
"And then he schools us," Ryan says. "Just as we're trying to tackle him, he jumps over us, and it cuts to a picture of him as a college student."
Zabrin said he found the film's message to be poignant, and he hopes it makes an impact on young players watching it.
"They're reading about (racial discrimination) in their history books," Zabrin says. "But here, they're seeing it in a movie, presented in something they're passionate about, namely football. It's a great message, I thought."