From a Humble Start, He Became Zeus : Track: Tommie Lister Jr. was an ordinary athlete at Compton High who went on to win a shotput title at Cal State L.A. He then became a well-known pro wrestler and now is a successful actor.

Tommie Lister Jr. no doubt is remembered by professional wrestling fans as Zeus, a homicidal maniac who challenged Hulk Hogan to a match with no rules in the 1989 film “No Holds Barred.”

He wrestled in “Summer Slam” that year. Lister also joined “Macho Man” Randy Savage in a tag-team match against Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake in a pay-per-view special.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pound Lister dropped out of the World Wrestling Federation scene afterward.

But when Lister sold his Harbor City home to move to Atlanta in 1990, the new homeowner asked him not to remove the name Zeus, which had been painted on the bottom of the swimming pool.

Lister, 35, who has adopted the nickname “Tiny,” has since surfaced in a roles in movies and television.

Some might think Lister is just another athlete turned actor, and that the theatrical escapades of professional wrestling aren’t much different from big-screen shoot-’em-ups. But Lister’s road to success didn’t start with the WWF.

Lister, who has been blind in his right eye since birth, was the NCAA Division II shotput champion at Cal State Los Angeles, where he still holds the school record of 61 feet, 8 inches.

“Track and field will always be my first love,” Lister said. “Winning the national championship means more to me than anything I have or will do. It was my first claim to success.”

Lister improved to 64-3 in 1983, competing for the Converse Track Club, but gave up track in 1984 to try his hand in football with the New Orleans Breakers of the now-defunct United States Football League.

In the interim, Lister, a business major, began receiving small roles in commercials through contacts with agents he met while working as a bouncer in a nightclub.

“First, it was Bubba Smith. Then came the Mr. T era,” Lister said. “I was the next one to come along. My eye made me distinctive and became my trademark. I went to an audition and got the part. Then I kept going and going and getting the parts.”

The Breakers cut Lister, who had no previous organized football experience, after two exhibition games but offered him a spot on the practice squad.

Instead, Lister opted for acting.

“Who needed football and getting beat up?,” Lister said. “I made $100,000 my first year making movies without getting hurt. With the little common sense I had left, I figured it would make sense to become an actor.”

Lister is now a veteran of 21 films. He was a regular on the HBO series “1st & Ten,” and has been a guest star on “Webster,” “Matlock” and the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” He also had a cameo role with Eddie Murphy on Michael Jackson’s music video “Remember the Time.”

In 1993, Lister co-starred with Mario Van Peebles and Tone Loc in the Western “Posse.” In “Men at War,” which recently finished filming in Thailand and is scheduled for a fall release, Lister plays an evil mercenary named Blades.

“If you think Zeus was bad, Blades is like his twin brother, but twice as bad,” Lister said. “The kids are going to love it.”

Lister’s athletic career, however, didn’t blossom as quickly as his career as a thespian.

He competed in track for three seasons at Compton High, but never won a league championship or advanced to the Southern Section finals.

Lister, who weighed 250 pounds during his shotputting days, attended Palomar Junior College for a year but did not qualify for postseason competition. He transferred to Long Beach College for his sophomore year in 1979.

“He was so huge we called him Tommie Hulk,” said Virgil Torrence, 34, a sprinter and roommate of Lister at Long Beach. “He could growl and do imitations. He is really friendly and easygoing, but he can be almost intimidating when he is goofing around. He always had a little acting ability.”

At Long Beach, Lister also showed his first signs of athletic promise, recording a mark of 52-0 in the shotput. He qualified for the Southern California finals and earned a scholarship to Cal State L.A.

He increased his best to 53-9 his junior year at Cal State L.A. He finished sixth in the California College Athletic Assn. championships but was plagued by a mysterious weight loss.

Lister, who had dropped 30 pounds, was diagnosed with kidney stones and infected tonsils. He had surgery and was hospitalized for three weeks, forcing him to sit out the 1981 season.

“I was always a milk freak and developed calcium deposits in my bladder because I never drank any water,” Lister said. “When I got well, I knew I was going to break the school record.”

He did that--breaking the old standard by nearly six feet and winning a national title--and is the only Cal State L.A. shotputter ever to break 60 feet.

“It was only a matter of time before he reached that kind of level,” Long Beach Coach Ron Allice said. “When he came to Long Beach, he was a real novice and that was his first real year of throwing. His potential was untapped.”

Lister also concedes that his fascination with Westerns wasn’t conducive to top performances on the track.

“I’m a TV fanatic. I was always late to practice because I was watching ‘The Rifleman’ and ‘Bonanza,’ ” Lister said.

Lister said he still watches movies most nights well past midnight. But he also finds time to give motivational talks to youth groups in Georgia with his close friend, Deion Sanders of Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Falcons. He also visits Allice to give motivational talks to the Long Beach track team.

Lister said he yearns to return to Cal State L.A. someday to teach drama or coach track.

“I was nothing. Everything started there,” Lister said. “I got my first big break for exposure because people there believed in me and gave me a chance to develop. I would love to wear a Cal State L.A. jacket wherever I go around the world. I’m just a big a kid who got lucky beyond his wildest dreams, but I am very, very proud of where I’m from.”