Website: www.GreatMagicGreatFun.com
Favorite Magic Trick: Head Shrinker
Favorite Magic Book: Anything by Harry Lorayne
Prop Preference: Close Up & Comedy Stage
Awards / Accomplishments
Second Place 2009 Diamond Jam Stage Competition, Las Vegas
1991 Oreo Cookie Magician for Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois
Ring 56 “Magician of the Year” ’93 & ’95
Convention Performances at Columbus Magifest 2006, Winter Carnival of Magic 2007, IBM (Miami 2006 & Cleveland 2004), Daytona Magic Convention 2007, and Louisville’s Combined I.B.M. & SAM 2008 Convention.
How Did you first become interested in Magic?
The magic bug bit at the age of twelve when Tom did his 6th-grade report on a magic book. Less than a year later he was performing for pay at a Mother-Daughter banquet. In the 34 years since that first show, he has taken his teenage hobby and made it his obsession and full-time profession. At the beginning of the new millennium, Tom quit his “day job” as an engineer and middle manager to pursue his passion in magic. There have been no regrets!
Background:
Tom was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated as Salutatorian of his high school class (Madeira High School) and went to college at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology where he earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Sociology. He has worked in Dallas for Texas Instruments and then for Alcoa in both Evansville, Indiana and Knoxville, Tennessee. He has three children: Bradley, Jonathan, and Jennifer.
Misc:
Since 1986, he’s been a member of the Society of American Magicians and a very active part of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. The Evansville, Indiana I.B.M. chapter named him the Magician of the Year in 1993 and again in 1995. In January 1995, Tom began writing a monthly column for “The Linking Ring” – the worldwide publication of the I.B.M., and served as the Associate Editor and Assistant Editor for this journal. His stories have won several awards. In 1997, Tom also began volunteering his efforts to the International Brotherhood of Magicians; he has chaired the Youth Committeee and the Territorial Vice President Committee, he also served a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees (1999-2002).
Tom has been an active member of Ring 58 of the I.B.M. in Knoxville, Tennessee, since moving to the area in 1996. He has been program chairman, secretary, president, and vice president of the club. He has been the co-chairman of the Winter Carnival of Magic for the past six years.
Tom loves magic! He loves performing, as any audience can tell. He performs more than 250 shows a year throughout the area. His comical presentation of magic is professional and very entertaining. The key to his act is the way in which he interacts with the audience and gets them involved in the humor and antics from the very start of his routine. Besides being funny from the stage, Tom’s close-up magic is highly acclaimed. He performs at three Knoxville area restaurants each week: El Sazon across from the airport on Sundays, El Jimador in Maryville on Tuesdays, and Pelancho’s in Knoxville on Wednesdays.
In addition to his magic, Tom is an excellent balloon artist. Tom performs at several festivals around the country with his fellow twister and Ring 58 member, Daniel Herron of Henderson, Kentucky, as “The Balloon Guys.” Tom and Daniel have two videos on the market, and have lectured at many magic conventions and clubs. Daniel and Tom currently are writing a bi-monthly column for M-U-M (the periodical for the Society of American Magicians that started in early 2009.
Tom is also a creator of many magic tricks. In 2001 Tom was part of “RC Depot, Inc.” that produced about a dozen effects including their flagship basketball production, Double Dribble. Although this venture went out of business, Tom has released a few products on his own including the Comedy Mini Wallet (2003) and his paper folding comedy, Tricks for Food (2005).
