Find Your Passion

graduate Tony Horton returned here from Los Angeles to take part in this weekend’s 35^th reunion activities and to lead a Saturday morning exercise class to raise funds for the school’s athletic activities. 

As he was being led on an afternoon tour of the school by Athletic Director Mike Herbst, Principal Bob Tremaglio and First Selectman Tim Herbst, Horton talked about acting in student theater productions, being the target of bullying and being “the tackling dummy” for the football team.

It was not a happy time in his life, he recalled.

After THS he went to the University of Rhode Island. There he took up weight lifting while he kept up his theater work. He graduated, and with $400 in his pocket, set out to make it in Hollywood.

On his way to stardom he became a waiter, a carpenter and a stand-up comic. And he kept up his own by training, working out with serious lifters including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno.

He took a job at 20^th Century Fox where he met stars including Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Idol. He began to work out with them and discovered he really could make money as a personal trainer. 

These experiences gave him the catalyst of what has become P90X, one of the most successful exercise programs – and a program that leaves him looking like anything but a typical 53-year-old.

First Selectman Tim Herbst offered a mini-testimonial, saying he has dropped 16 pounds so far using it.

Principles of Success

The entourage moved to the auditorium, where Horton offered a fast paced, dramatic and engaging motivational presentation to about 200 THS students.

Horton began by admitting to being uncomfortable as a high school student, and told the students he started, and continues exercising because “I like feeling good.”  He counseled exercising at least five days a week “for the rest of your life.” 

But happiness, he said, is more than looking good.  It is a combination of “mind, body and spirit.”

He told his audience the enemy is fat, sugar, salt, chemicals and processed foods. “Eat whole healthy foods 90 percent of the time," he said. Three healthy meals a day with a little bit of chocolate is OK, he added.

He said his youthful favorite, a double bacon cheeseburger with mayonnaise, is a “heart attack on a bun," vowing he wouldn’t go into a McDonalds for "$1,000."  When one of the students upped the ante to $1 million, he jokingly reconsidered.

More important was his call to “find your passion.” Find out what you love and do it. But, he said, have a back up plan. He said he went west to be Brad Pitt but became a waiter to pay the bills.

On a slide titled, “Think and Act Outside the Box,” he showed a picture of Steve Jobs.

There he hit the heart of his message – challenge yourself, “do what’s scary… fear is an opportunity. Embrace it!”

He said “people are afraid to create…but that’s where the magic is.”

• And “learn from the wise, ask for what you want. Steal it, use it, make it yours.”
• Give thanks for what you have, have compassion for others and remember “It’s not always about you.”

Horton, pulled up short by the bus schedule, closed with “find the funny… a sense of humor opens doors.”