Paul Bachman

Paul Bachman (1934 - 2015) was a well-known juggler, juggling historian, and collector from Chicago, IL (USA). He was a mentor and friend to numerous jugglers and was the 2010 recipient of the IJA’s Bobby May Award. He produced a well-known instructional DVD on ball bounce juggling and authored the juggling history book Jugglers Galore. Paul amassed one of the largest collections of juggling props, memorabilia, photos, and videos of all time. He learned to juggle at the age of 18. While he was never a full-time professional, some highlights of his juggling career included performing at a ballet in the Arie Crown Theater, opening for Michael Jackson in Montreal, performing with Leonard Barr, Ray Charles, Conway Twitty, Chubby Checker, Merle Haggard, Farrah Fawcett, and Bob Hope. He performed with balls, clubs, cigar boxes, hats, ball and mouth-stick, bike rims, beer bottle on a mouthstick, bowling ball and unicycle. He specialized in ball bouncing and learned a total of 31 moves with 5 balls. He also bounced 7 in his act. He was also a trained magician.
Apart from juggling he worked as the regional manager of a chemical company, opening 14 offices in the Midwest, all which were successful. Paul eventually became an executive with the company. Paul's home life was dedicated to his family. He married his wife Madelyn in 1956 and they had five children. In his younger years, he was a coach for his kids and went to many sports events when they played. Later, after retirement, his largest enjoyment was his family, followed by his massive juggling collection.
Category:Jugglers
Category:Performers
Category:History
Category:Historians
Category:Educators and coaches