Learning from the Domino Wizard

Robert Speca life guarding in Ocean City.
Photo by Robert Speca

Robert Speca, a science teacher at Marple Newtown High School, is not your ordinary teacher. Before he started his teaching career he was a lifeguard, swimming coach, and Ironman triathlon athlete.

But his biggest triumph is being the original Guinness domino toppling record holder, he said.

Speca is a member of an elite few who can say they are or were in the Guinness Book of World Records.

“It was my second-year math teacher at Marple Newtown High school who sparked my interest in domino-toppling,” Speca said. “It was Mr. Dobransky who used dominos as an example to teach about the math induction theory.”

“I was intrigued enough by his theory to go out that very afternoon and buy four boxes of dominos,” Speca explained. “The first I had ever owned, 112 in all.”  As his motivation grew, so did his domino collection, at a rate of a box a day.

His junior year he invited some friends over to help set up around 500 dominos in his basement. The oohs and aahs from friends confirmed that this would appeal to others.

As more and more students came to see Speca in action so did a local newspaper, the County Leader, who took an interest in the on-goings of his basement.

He gave the newspaper something to talk about with a show of 5,555 dominos.

“I probably could have charged admission,” Speca said. “But their excitement was enough of a reward.”

A few weeks later, the Philadelphia Bulletin dedicated a pictorial spread in its Sunday magazine to his domino-toppling. With that, Speca became known as  Bob Speca, the “Domino Wizard.”

When one of his friends, Bill Passman, asked, “I wonder if that’s the largest chain in the world? You should write to Guinness,” Speca bought the latest edition of The Guinness Book of World Records to find out what the record was.

To his surprise there was no such listing. To start a whole new category Speca wrote to Guinness: “I have a bunch of dominos and line them all up. Does that sound interesting enough to be included in your new book of world records?”

They were quick to respond. It was to be called “Dominos toppled in a continuous chain from one hit.”

Now, a senior in high school, Speca was invited out to California to show off his skills on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. On the show he set a record of 11,111 dominos.

A group of students in Seattle watched the show and tried to beat Speca’s record. Speca became the ex-Guinness record holder, when the 1976 edition included the student’s new record of 13,832.

Robert Speca setting up his domino show for The Dave Letterman Show .
Photo Courtesy of Robert Speca.

Speca reclaimed his fame by getting into the 1977 Guinness record book with 22,222 dominos. A man in England tried to one-up with 33,000, and Speca destroyed all hope for him with 55,555 dominos, securing his name in the record books for at least another year.

Speca attended the University of Pennsylvania, and as any college student knows, Ivy League students need to get their hands on as much money as they can. To help his dad underwrite the costs, he appeared on The Tony Orlando Show and on The Tonight Show again. Speca also appeared at shopping centers and made commercials in many cities in the United States and Canada.

“Perhaps my most satisfying moment experienced was one that wasn’t lucrative, merely fun and worthwhile,” Speca said. In 1978, he donated his time to the National Hemophilia Foundation to set up a long chain of dominos at the Manhattan Center in New York City. He had painted some dominos red, white, and blue to make up an American flag effect.

The process would take 11 days and 100,000 dominos.

 The world of domino-toppling gave Speca the discipline and desire that allowed him to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania, he said. He taught science at Academy Park High School then moved to Marple Newtown High School.

Speca said the discipline needed for domino toppling has also helped him compete in 14 Ironman triathlons and coach swimmers.

It has granted him financial freedom to travel the world and see his favorite band Kansas perform 100 times. Because of his fascination with dominos, Speca has met countless celebrities including Richard Pryor, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Seinfeld, and many more, he said.

Speca still uses dominos in commercials, but he said his glory days are over.  Besides playing dominos with his nieces and nephews, he has set the boxes aside to allow other generations to pick up where he left off.            

Now most of his domino use is in the classroom. Speca uses them to show, in relation to atoms, how potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy and vice versa. He hopes that he can spark something in a student’s mind like Mr. Dobransky sparked something in his.

He now sees this hobby as art and encourages everyone to “try it and see what happens.”

“After your first toppling line, you will want more,” he added.

As he once said on The Late Show with Dave Letterman, “Domino toppling is kinda like an art form in motion."

                  Students in Mr. Speca's class learning how potential energy can turn into kinetic energy.

                                                         Videos by Nick Vasiliadis