John "Hondo" Hughes, a onetime math teacher with a trick or two up his sleeve, makes a magical living on the business meeting circuit.Since he
quit teaching six years ago at Cretin High School in St. Paul, Hondo the Magician has appeared at hundreds of corporate, charitable and sporting events to entertain and enlighten audiences.
As his fame spread, the St.
Paul bachelor and former baseball teammate of Dave Winfield has watched his yearly speaking fees rise from $50,000 to about $150,000. Hondo, 37, finds he can earn as much from a single sales meeting - $7,500 - as
he made in his first year teaching.
"I'm finding out how good I am," he says. "I've never looked back. I've never really worried about the money."
Hondo grew up near Cleveland and
Dayton avenues and attended St. Mark's grade school. His parents live in Highland Park.
Although he once hoped to be a professional baseball player and then settled for nine years of teaching, his current goal
is to be recognized nationally as a topflight speaker and entertainer.
"Magic is all presentation," he says. "If you don't have a connection with the audience, that's when you bomb."
"Hondo" replaced "Howard" as his nickname several years ago when he was a fan of John "Hondo" Havlicek, a former member of the Boston Celtics basketball team. Hughes played basketball
and baseball in high school and college.
When he was 17 and a junior at Cretin, Hughes got started in magic after seeing tricks at a poker game. He decided to learn his own tricks from books and magic
classes. For the next 15 years, he dabbled in the hobby and appeared at a few shows while earning a degree in math and education at Winona State and pursuing a teaching career.
He made his first professional
appearance in 1975 at an event held by the 3M surgical products group. Since then he has worked at several 3M employee recognition events, including the Carlton Society banquet two years ago.
Although his math
students enjoyed the magic tricks he used to enliven his classes, he didn't think of the hobby as a full time occupation until he became a big hit at a math teachers convention in 1984.
At the San Francisco
convention, he performed card tricks to demonstrate mathematical principles and got three job offers in the process.
"They went nuts. I wowed 'em."
On the flight home, e decided to take a chance by
trying his hobby as a second career. So, he gave up teaching and invested $3,000 in magic equipment to start the business he runs from his Highland Park home.
While establishing himself as a magician and
motivational speaker, Hughes has performed free at countless charitable events where he met people who later hired him for company meetings. Teamwork and leadership are common themes he weaves into his
presentations.
He joined chambers of commerce and hotel and motel groups to get to know business people who might call on his talents.
His corporate clients have included West Publishing Co., Pillsbury, ABC
Television, Toro, AT&T, Honeywell, Control Data Corp. and Super * Motels.
On the sports circuit he has entertained at the All Star Baseball Game part and the World Series gala in Minneapolis and the Western open
in Chicago.
As a third basemen on the Attucks Brooks Legion team in high school, Hughes played alongside shortstop Winfield on a state championship team. They were reunited at the All-Star party in 1985 when
Winfield interrupted Hughes's show to tell the audience they played ball together. Winfield has hired him to perform tricks at a few functions, he says.
