A man of many talents

Eric Walter is officially a two-time Guinness World Record holder from 2013, and has a third title pending from this summer’s competition at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind.

“My mom always jokes that I went to college to learn how to juggle,” says Eric Walter, also known as Eric the Juggler.

Actually, Eric, a 2001 graduate of Manchester High School, went to school to get his degree in Business Administration from Siena Heights University, where he also ran track and field and cross-country. But, along the way, he did happen to learn the skill of juggling.

“I learned how to juggle back in 2003 while shooting pool in the game room at the dorms and just sort of taught myself,” he recalls. “After a couple of weeks of practice with pool balls, I learned my lesson when two of them collided and smacked me in the nose.”

Lesson learned! A friend of Eric’s had a set of juggling clubs which he then picked up soon afterward, and he enjoyed entertaining himself and others with his newly-found skill (while saving his nose).

“I never really planned on going any further with juggling until my mom had heard about the city of Chelsea hiring street performers for a new weekly festival called Sounds & Sights on Thursday nights,” he explains. “My friend, Patrick DuRussel, had gone to side-show school in New York and learned various dangerous acts. We tried out, and we got our first gig.”

And from there, juggling took them even farther from home. In 2004, Eric and Pat decided to ride their bicycles for 26 days straight from Michigan to Key West, Florida. “We brought sleeping bags and a tarp and just slept anywhere we could find,” he recalls. “We street performed along the way and again at Mallory Square for a few days before coming home.”

A couple of years later, Pat moved out of town and Eric took over the side show acts as well as juggling. He now performs at various events around southeast Michigan such as Chelsea Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights, The Dexter Summer Concert Series, Adrian Artalicious Festival, Clinton Fall Festival, St Joseph Festival in Dexter, Wiards Orchard’s “Night Terrors” haunted house, and other parties and festivals.

Last summer, Eric performed at Third Thursdays in Manchester, and hopefully will be back next summer, performing tricks such as juggling (balls, clubs, machetes, pick axes, and torches), fire breathing, walking on glass, balancing acts, a diabolo, a unicycle, fire poi, and balloon animals.

In 2013, Eric made it into the Guinness World Records, with two official records–in the sport of Joggling (running while jogging). “I promise that is a real thing!” he says.

“Every year at the International Jugglers Association Festival they hold an event called ‘The World Joggling Championships,’ in which they hold Joggling competitions with the fastest time for everything from the 100 meter up to the 5k,” he explains.

With his background in track and cross country running, Eric broke the Guinness records for the fastest three-ball 400 meters (55.8 seconds) and 1,000 meters (2:46) while juggling.

“This July I went back to the festival, which was held at Purdue University, and ran the 800-meter event with a time of 2:12 which is still pending with Guinness,” he adds.

Born and raised in Manchester by his parents Bob and Denise Walter, who still reside on Boetger Rd, Eric has traveled far afield in his career and with his hobby of juggling. He’s lived in California, Florida, and Spain (where he and his wife Christina taught English in the public schools).

Settling down and currently making their home in Adrian Township for the past 10 years, Eric and Christina currently have two sons, ages 5 and 3, and a one-year-old daughter.

As for his day job, “Ironically, I work as a full time firefighter/paramedic,” he concludes.

Many talents, indeed! Eric’s hometown can take pride in his accomplishments.

A 2014 file photo of Eric balancing a stool on his nose.

Eric the Juggler returned to Manchester to perform some amazing feats at last summer’s Third Thursday events, and hopes to return in next summer’s lineup.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.