By Alexa Low

Quincy University’s Director of Information Technology Services, Michael McCabe, is a man of many talents.  Being an avid magic enthusiast along with a computer wiz, McCabe has earned  the nickname “The Wizard.” QU even went as far as adding “Head Wizard” onto his name plaque outside his office located in Francis Hall.

Some of his many talents include being a scuba diver and shooting instructor, ham radio operator, and stained glass window creator. McCabe is even a certified storm spotter/search and rescuer. However, he may be most known for his love of magic tricks.

“I don’t always have a deck of cards in my pocket but quite often I do and as you can see I’ve got a deck sitting here on my desk as well,” McCabe said.

He first started card tricks as a way to keep his cub scouts engaged and wanting to come back every week. The following week he would teach them how he accomplished the previous week’s trick. McCabe stated that he would get angry phone calls from parents whose children were sick but didn’t want to miss out on his weekly card trick.

“I would have mothers call angry going ‘Johnny’s got a fever of 104 but he won’t miss scouts because he wants to know how to do last weeks card trick’ so then I would have to tell them I would make an exception and show him when he gets back,” McCabe said.

Growing up in Quincy, Illinois he always found himself being someone who would rather do or learn something new than sit around and watch television. After graduating from Missouri Institute of Technology and becoming a successful entrepreneur he found his way to QU.

McCabe was originally hired to work a six month job putting WiFi into Padua Hall. After finishing in only thirty days he was offered the Director of IT job. He was not anticipating having a permanent job on QU’s campus but said he’s glad it happened the way it did.

“They’re going to have to pry me out with a crowbar, I really do like it [here],”  McCabe said.

Being an IT director with so many different hobbies, he can be a fun guy to work with according to some of his students.

“He’s very fun. We all communicate through ham radios and have different code names. Mine is Dragonfly and Mike’s is The Wizard,” Maria Peterson said.

BJ Wilson had the opportunity to work with McCabe over the summer putting up WiFi cables and updating computers. He is a computer science major who happens to also be a magic fanatic as well, and was very intrigued when he found out his boss liked card tricks.

“It was pretty funny to see my boss show me a card trick where I already knew how it was done,” Wilson said.

Now, McCabe can be seen around campus performing magic tricks to passing students. He is currently in the progress of mastering a new card trick so make sure to stop by his office and see the new trick firsthand.