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Broadview Heights magician Rick Smith Jr. has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Photo courtesy of Rick Smith Jr.
(Courtesy of Rick Smith Jr. )
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio - On Saturday, magician Rick Smith Jr., a Broadview Heights resident, will attempt to break the world record for the highest playing card ever thrown.
The attempt is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. at Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. Smith must fling the card higher than 55 feet, the existing record as tracked by Guinness World Records.
Smith set the mark for the farthest playing card ever thrown - 72 yards - in 2002.
Also, Smith is the most accurate playing-card tosser. Last year, he shot 46 cards into a target 10 inches wide and 10 feet away in one minute. The previous record was six cards.
"Eventually I want to hold all four card-throwing records," Smith said. The fourth record involves throwing the most cards at least six feet in one minute.
Why the fascination with card throwing? Smith was once a pitcher at Cleveland State University, routinely firing 92-mph fastballs.
At the same time, Smith has been a magician for 27 of his 34 years. He's been doing card tricks since he was 7.
"I put the two together and found that I could break records for card-throwing," Smith said.
Smith isn't a shabby magician. He has performed on national TV shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He also appeared on Shark Tank, where he sought $1.5 million for a Las Vegas magic show.
"The judges didn't want to give the money but they liked the idea," Smith said.
So Smith recently put together a Vegas-type magic show program called Magic Gives Back, which will raise money for school districts throughout Greater Cleveland. The first show is a fundraiser for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Parent School Organization. Students are selling tickets for prizes. Half the proceeds will go to the schools.
The Magic Gives Back show is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 21 and 3 p.m. March 22 at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School.