Robert James Albo (May 8, 1932 – February 21, 2011) was an American physician, surgeon and amateur illusionist. He was for 40 years team physician for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

as well as the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

. At one point he held the largest private magic collection in the world.

Early life and education

Robert Albo was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, on May 8, 1932, and grew up in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. He attended Berkeley High School, where he played basketball and helped lead the team to Tournament of Champions title in 1949. After high school, he briefly worked as an animator for

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

before studying pre-med at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he was captain of the basketball and baseball teams. He was offered a contract with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, but declined it to pursue a medical career.

Medical career

Albo received his medical education at

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

(UCSF), graduating in 1959. He remained at UCSF for his internship and residency, and later became a professor of surgery there. His first professional job in sports medicine was with the

Oakland Seals The California Golden Seals were a professional ice hockey club that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1967 to 1976. Based in Oakland, California, they played their home games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The ...

hockey team. He became team physician for the

in the early 1970s, and in 1999 became the Warriors' Director of Medicine. He was also the head team physician for the

and

Oakland Oaks (ABA) The Oakland Oaks were a charter member of the original American Basketball Association and the first West Coast basketball team to win a major professional championship. Formed in February 1967, the team played in the ABA during the 1967–68 and ...

. He specialised in general, vascular, and oncological surgery.

Magic collection

Albo was an amateur illusionist, and held a collection of magic apparatus that grew to be the world's largest, with over 4000 items. Albo used it to write his well regarded series of books, ''Classic Magic With Apparatus''. Originally intended as a trilogy, it eventually grew to 11 volumes. It was followed by further books focused on the magic of

Okito Tobias "Theo" Leendert Bamberg (1875–1963) was a professional magician. Born in the Netherlands, Bamberg performed under the name ''Okito'' which is an anagram of Tokio (Tokyo). His father had been court magician to King William III of the Ne ...

and Thayer. In 1992, selected items from the collection were displayed over three of the terminals of

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...

. In 1994, Albo agreed to sell the entire collection to

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

, though some items were not transferred to Copperfield until 2010. Albo was a partner in the Palace of Magic shop in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and Magic Island in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

Bibliography

* ''Classic Magic Series'' ** I - ''The Oriental Magic of the Bambergs'' (1973) w/ Eric C. Lewis & David Bamberg ** II - ''Classic Magic With Apparatus'' (1976) ** III - ''More Classic Magic With Apparatus'' ** IV - ''Further Classic Magic With Apparatus'' ** V - ''Still Further Classic Magic With Apparatus'' ** VI - ''Final Classic Magic With Apparatus'' ** VII - ''Classic Magic Index'' ** VIII - ''Classic Magic Supplement'' ** IX - ''Additional Classic Magic With Apparatus'' ** X - ''History and Mystery of Magic'' ** XI - ''Laboratories of Legerdemain'' *** ''Magic of the United States'' *** ''Magic of France'' *** ''Magic of Germany'' *** ''Magic of England'' * ''The Ultimate Okito'' * ''The Ultimate Okito Addendum'' * ''The Ultimate Okito Encore'' * ''The Ultimate Thayer'' * ''Thoughts on the History and Mystery of Magic''

Awards

* The

Academy of Magical Arts The Magic Castle is a performance venue, restaurant, and clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts for magicians and magic enthusiasts in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. The Academy was started in 1952 by W ...

Special Fellowship (1983) * The Academy of Magical Arts Literary & Media Fellowship (1988) * The John Neville Maskelyne Prize 1989

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albo, Robert 1932 births 2011 deaths American surgeons American sports physicians University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni Historians of magic Academy of Magical Arts Literature & Media Fellowship winners Academy of Magical Arts Special Fellowship winners