The Gentle Giant: A Bio of Robert Wadlow, the Tallest Man in History

Ever since I was little, I've had a fascination with human wonders. Some might call them freaks of nature, but obviously, I'm not going to go that route. I always enjoyed going to Ripley's Believe It Or Not exhibits and thumbing through the latest edition of the Guinness World Book of Records. People and monuments of staggering heights are of particular interest to me. The world's tallest living man is Bao Xishun, a herdsman from Inner Mongolia who stands at 7'9". A Ukrainian by the name of Leonid Stadnik claims to be 8'4", yet he refuses to be officially measured by the Guinness World Records.

The tallest living woman is China's Yao Defen. Defen stands at 7'8". For years, Chicago native Sandy Allen has been recognized as the tallest living woman at 7'7". Sadly, she can no longer stand upright and is confined to a wheelchair. Most "giants" are so because of an overactive pituitary gland that secretes too many growth hormones. As these towering souls age, it becomes harder and harder to walk. Many require leg braces to stand. As tall as these people are, they don't come close to overshadowing Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in history. At the time of his death in 1940, he stood at 8'11" and weighed 490 pounds. He reached 9 feet with his boots on (!).

Robert Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois on February 22, 1918. He was a perfect 8 pounds, 6 ounces. It wasn't long before he began to sprout skyward. At the age of eight, he stood at 6'2". On average, he grew 4 inches per year since his birth. At 14, Robert became the world's tallest Boy Scout at 7'4". By the time he was 17, he weighed close to 400 pounds and wore a size 37AA shoe. His shoes were given to the family for free. They would have cost $100 per pair, which, if you factor in inflation, was a great deal of money.

At the age of 19, Robert broke all previous height records. He was 8'4" and weighed 435 pounds. In 1937, he and his father embarked on a promotional tour for the shoe company that had been supplying him with footwear. Robert's poor blood circulation caused him to have very little sensation in his feet. At some point during his tour across the U.S., a blister developed on his ankle that he wasn't aware of. It became infected and ultimately kept him bedridden. Despite surgery and blood transfusions, Robert Wadlow passed away only days after falling ill. He died on July 15, 1940. His funeral was almost as big as his frame. 40,000 people signed the guest register, and it took 12 pallbearers to carry Wadlow's 1,000-pound casket.

Robert was still growing at the time of his death. Today, no one could ever reach his height, unless they lived in a civilization that did not have access to advanced medicine. Excessive growth can now be micrified and kept in check. Some claim that Goliath was technically the tallest man in history at 9'6", but I won't get into that debate. A life-sized statue of Wadlow was built on the campus grounds of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine in remembrance of the "gentle giant." The next time you're going through the drive-thru and you see the sign that reads "Caution 9 ft.," imagine instead Robert Wadlow standing at attention. You'll have a hard time processing the image of a person that tall, but as they say, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.