Hidden behind a bush near the top of Sunset Canyon Recreation
Center, a shadowy figure peered down at the pool through his
binoculars during a UCLA men’s water polo practice last
November, looking for a face to fit Abercrombie & Fitch’s
new ad campaign.
Little did Brad Greiner know that it would be his.
But the 6-foot-4 reserve center defender’s modeling career
almost came to a screeching halt before it even had a chance to
bloom.
Alarmed that his team was potentially being watched by an
opposing team’s scout, coach Adam Krikorian sent two of his
players to find out who was spying on them and escort that person
off the premises.
When the man revealed himself, Krikorian remembered Zack Stefan
as someone whom the UCLA coach encountered four years ago when he
was on a similar assignment for Abercrombie & Fitch.
What began as a tenuous and apprehensive situation ended up
jump-starting Greiner’s modeling career.
Now when he sees himself on billboards and magazine covers,
Greiner can hardly believe that an unlikely meeting with Stefan and
a few Polaroids in a Westwood parking lot could translate into
national stardom.
“I didn’t think it would ever get this big,”
Greiner said. “I’m not a big fan of the pictures of me
all over the place because I don’t like the attention it
brings. I don’t even think I throw off that sexual vibe. But
the money is so good it’s hard to turn it down as a college
student.”
Signs of success
Driving down Sunset Boulevard, motorists can’t help but
reduce their speeds and peer upward at the gigantic billboard of
Greiner sprawled out in his underwear. New York City pedestrians
are met with the same pose on an eight-story billboard of him
opposite Trump Towers, ushering in the largest Abercrombie &
Fitch store in the nation.
“My initial thought was that those pictures are way too
sexual,” said Greiner with a sheepish smile. “I
don’t know how they even got pictures of me being that
sexual.”
Just a few months removed from winning an NCAA title with the
men’s water polo team in December, Greiner has seen his year
take a surreal turn. The 21-year-old junior has already graced the
covers of some of the world’s top fashion magazines such as
Vanity Fair and L’Uomo Vogue as well as Abercrombie &
Fitch bags from 300 stores nationwide.
Greiner’s meteoric rise has taken his UCLA teammates by
surprise.
Krikorian was at San Jose Airport waiting for a flight earlier
this year when a woman sat down and put her bag down next to
him.
“I look to my right at the bag, and I see a picture of
Brad (with his hands folded over the back of head) on an
Abercrombie bag, right in my face,” Krikorian laughed.
“My reaction was, “˜oh my god!’ I started laughing
to myself and the lady next to me was like, “˜Are you all
right?’ and I was like “˜Yeah, I know this
guy.'” I had to tell the whole story of how he plays
water polo at UCLA and I’m the coach. It was a
trip.”
Having strangers recognize him on the street has been an
adjustment for the unassuming blond-haired, blue-eyed native of
Yorba Linda.
Though Greiner began modeling at a local level at the age of 17,
water polo consumed his life, especially while he was training with
the junior national team. And appearing in a few runway shows for
prom apparel didn’t have the cache of being the centerpiece
of a national ad campaign.
“It’s just funny,” Krikorian said. “Brad
is a pretty quiet, low-key guy. So it was embarrassing for him at
first. We razzed him about it at first, but he was a great sport
about it. I think he’s seemed to accept his status in a
way.”
His teammates weren’t the only ones who have teased him.
Some of UCLA’s women’s water polo players have also
taken notice of the heartthrob.
“He’s like girls’ best friend,” junior
Thalia Munro said. “He’s a great person that happens to
be extremely good-looking. I’m sure girls are now giving him
a second look.”
“To know that he’s posted up on girls’ closet
doors in their houses as an object of teenage affection, it’s
amusing, so we like to give him a little bit of a hard time for
it,” senior Natalie Golda said.
Two passions, one conflict
The early foray into modeling was advantageous for Greiner in
one way. NCAA regulations require scholarship athletes that want to
be paid for modeling professionally to have some sort of modeling
background prior to college. Otherwise they must forfeit their
eligibility.
The NCAA also does not allow athletes to pose in a way that
reflects the sport they compete in, their respective schools, or
their legal name. Hence Greiner goes by the alias Bradley Thomas in
his modeling career.
And that opportunity wouldn’t have surfaced if Stefan
hadn’t spotted him.
“He has an interesting look because he’s so
tall,” Stefan said. “He stuck out because of his
positive attitude; he’s great to work with and Adam spoke
highly of him. He brings a certain personality to the camera
that’s attractive.”
From there, Greiner began shooting in Northern California for
the clothing company Hollister in the middle of November.
As luck would have it, world-renowned fashion photographer Bruce
Weber, who has worked with the likes of Calvin Klein, Versace and
Ralph Lauren, fancied Greiner and his look. And instead of shooting
for Hollister, Weber had Greiner fitted in Abercrombie wear
instead.
“It was my one chance,” Greiner said. “If I
couldn’t prove to them right then I could do well then I knew
that I would never get to talk to them ever again and they would
never use my pictures.”
Greiner’s next big opportunity came at the most
inopportune time.
During the week of the NCAA men’s water polo tournament,
Greiner was forced to make a complicated decision because he was
informed Abercrombie wanted him to shoot for the cover in Miami.
The catch was that Greiner would miss a few early days of practice
during the week.
“He’s a big part of the team and a good water polo
player,” Krikorian said. “He asked me if he could do
it, during the biggest week of the year, and I had a hard time
saying no. I checked with the rest of the guys on the team and they
were like “˜Yeah, that’s cool. It’s a great
opportunity for him.'”
The conflicts between modeling and water polo have since forced
Greiner to choose between his two passions. When his three-month
contract with Abercrombie expired last month, Greiner attended
castings with American Eagle, Express, Dolce and Gabbana, Cosmo
Girl, and Seventeen over spring break in New York. The week-long
trip convinced him that he needs to spend the summer in New York
with his new agency, CLICK Model Management Inc., forcing him to
put his water polo career on hold.
“I was having this feeling even before the season
started,” Greiner said. “My heart wasn’t totally
in it. I just wasn’t having fun anymore. With all these jobs
I can’t give a hundred percent to the team.”
Krikorian and Greiner’s teammates have been
understanding.
“If he wants to take some time off to do this, I’m
OK with that because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
and it’s an opportunity for him to make some good money at a
young age. It’s hard for me to say no to that,”
Krikorian said. “It’s great. It’d set him up for
awhile. I’d love to have him back; I just don’t know if
it’s feasible and some of this depends on how far this is
going to go.”
Greiner’s modeling future
The next publication that Greiner will appear in is Saturday
Night Magazine’s May issue with Kiki Veralrud, a second-year
psychology student at UCLA.
With just a few shots with Greiner, Veralrud can see how he has
been successful.
“What strikes me is that even though his career is blowing
up and he gets a lot of attention, he’s not full of himself
at all and he takes things in stride,” Veralrud said.
“I think he definitely has what it takes. He’s pretty
committed too, and I hope he does go far.”
For now Greiner has the right type of attitude when it comes to
modeling. Though he’s a “little worried,” Greiner
understands the nature of the modeling business.
“You can’t get discouraged. Because every company
has a certain look, I don’t feel rejected when they
don’t pick me up,” he said. “I just say
they’re just looking for a different look and then I continue
on.”
As for what Greiner has his heart set on for the future,
there’s only one company.
“Polo. That’s my style,” he said.