Most of the illusions of Rick Smith Jr. are standard Magic 101 fare: pulling cards out of his mouth, plucking coins from spectators’ ears, and turning slips of paper into $100 bills. But the Lyndhurst magician’s most awe-inspiring stunt is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records: In March 2002, Smith threw a playing card 216 feet and four inches across CSU’s Convocation Center. The former college baseball pitcher soon found himself on the TV-appearance circuit — from Ripley’s Believe It or Not to Last Call With Carson Daly.

In June, he repeated the card toss on ABC’s Master of Champions, where he wowed a panel of judges over five other record-holders, including both the world’s fastest yo-yo maestro and ice-skating spinner. “The only person who’s going to break my record is Nolan Ryan or somebody that can throw baseballs 95 miles an hour,” says Smith. “I get e-mails from people around the world who say they can break the record. But nobody has the arm speed I have.”
Fridays, 6-8 p.m., 2006

This article appears in Aug 9-15, 2006.