Robert Wadlow

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadlow

Wadlow's height was 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m)[2][3][4] while his weight reached 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood were due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone (HGH).

Early life
Wadlow, aged 9, beside a 10-year-old neighbor, circa January 1928.
Wadlow was born in Alton, Illinois, on February 22, 1918, to Harold Franklin and Addie May (Johnson) Wadlow, with a typical birth weight of 8 lb 5 oz (3.77 kg)[5] and was the oldest of five children. He was taller than his father by age 8, and in elementary school a special desk was made for him. His pituitary gland condition was diagnosed at the age of twelve. At the time, corrective surgery was dangerous and not guaranteed to work, so his parents decided against intervening.[6]
He attended Alton High School, where he was involved in the German Club and Camera Club.[7] By the time of his graduation in 1936, he was 8 ft 4 in (254 cm).[1] He enrolled in Shurtleff College with the intention of studying law.

Adulthood
Wadlow's shoe (US size 37 AA; UK size 36 or approximately European size 75) compared to a US size 12[2]
Wadlow required leg braces when walking and had little feeling in his legs and feet, but he never used a wheelchair.[8]
Wadlow became a celebrity after his 1936 U.S. tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus, appearing at Madison Square Garden and the Boston Garden in the center ring (never in the sideshow).[9] During his appearances, he dressed in his everyday clothes and refused the circus's request that he wear a top hat and tails.[9]
In 1938, he began a promotional tour with the International Shoe Company, which provided him shoes free of charge,[10] again only in his everyday street clothes.[11] Wadlow saw himself as working in advertising, not exhibiting as a freak.[9] He possessed great physical strength until the last few days of his life.[12][better source needed]
Wadlow belonged to the Order of DeMolay, the Masonic-sponsored organization for young men, and was later a Freemason. By November 1939,[13] Wadlow was a Master Mason under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. and A.M.
One year before his death, Wadlow passed John Rogan as the tallest person ever recorded. On June 27, 1940 (18 days before his death), he was measured by doctors at 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m).[1]

Death
On July 4, 1940, during a professional appearance at the Manistee National Forest Festival, a faulty brace irritated his ankle, leading to infection. He was treated with a blood transfusion and surgery, but his condition worsened and he died in his sleep on July 15.[14][1]
His coffin measured 10 ft 9 in (3.28 m) long by 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m) wide by 2 ft 6 in (0.76 m) deep, weighed over 1,000 lb (450 kg), and was carried by twelve pallbearers and eight assistants.[1][15][16] He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Alton, Illinois.

Legacy
A life-size statue of Wadlow was erected opposite the Alton Museum of History and Art in 1986.[1][17] He is one of the Guinness World Records ICONS of 2025.[18]

Height chart

Height and weight of Robert Wadlow, by age of measurement

Age

Height

Weight

Notes

Size of

Date

Birth

1 ft 8 in (0.51 m)

8 lb 5 oz (3.8 kg)[19]

Normal height and weight

Average newborn

February 22, 1918

6 months

2 ft 10+1⁄2 in (0.88 m)

30 lb (14 kg)[20]

2-year-old

August 22, 1918

1 year

3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)

45 lb (20 kg)

When he began to walk at 11 months, he was 3 ft 3+1⁄2 in (1.00 m) tall and weighed 40 lb (18 kg).

5-year-old

February 22, 1919

18 months

4 ft 3+1⁄4 in (1.30 m)

67 lb (30 kg)[20]

8-year-old

August 22, 1919

2 years

4 ft 6+1⁄4 in (1.38 m)

75 lb (34 kg)

10-year-old

1920

3 years

4 ft 11 in (1.50 m)

89 lb (40 kg)

12-year-old

1921

4 years

5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)

105 lb (48 kg)

14-year-old

1922

5 years

5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.69 m)[20]

140 lb (64 kg)[20]

At 5 years of age, attending kindergarten, Wadlow was 5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.69 m) tall. He wore clothes that would fit a 17-year-old boy.

15-year-old

1923

6 years

5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)

146 lb (66 kg)

Height of average adult male (global average).

1924

7 years

5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)

159 lb (72 kg)

Height of average adult male in the United States.

1925

8 years

6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[21]

169 lb (77 kg)[21]

Height of average adult male in the Netherlands.

1926

9 years

6 ft 2+1⁄2 in (1.89 m)[21]

180 lb (82 kg)

Weighing 180 lb (82 kg), he was strong enough to carry his father (who was sitting in a living room chair) up the stairs to the second floor.[22]

1927

10 years

6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[23]

211 lb (96 kg)[23]

1928

11 years

6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)

241 lb (109 kg)

1929

12 years

7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)[24]

287 lb (130 kg)

1930

13 years

7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)[25]

270 lb (120 kg)[25]

World's tallest Boy Scout[26]

1931

14 years

7 ft 5 in (2.26 m)

331 lb (150 kg)

1932

15 years

7 ft 10 in (2.39 m)

354 lb (161 kg)

1933

16 years

8 ft 1+1⁄4 in (2.47 m)[27]

374 lb (170 kg)

1934

17 years

8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)[28]

382 lb (173 kg)

Graduated from high school on January 8, 1936 (not yet 18)[28]

Sultan Kösen, who is, as of 2024, the tallest currently living man.

1935

18 years

8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)

391 lb (177 kg)

1936

19 years

8 ft 6+1⁄2 in (2.60 m)[11]

480 lb (220 kg)[11]

1937

20 years

8 ft 7+1⁄4 in (2.62 m)

488 lb (221 kg)

1938

21 years

8 ft 8 in (2.64 m)[29]

491 lb (223 kg)[29]

1939

22.4 years

8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m)[30]

439 lb (199 kg)

At death, he was the world's tallest man, according to Guinness World Records.[2]

June 27, 1940

See also
Acromegaly
Gigantism
List of tallest people
Trijntje Keever, the alleged tallest woman in recorded history
Zeng Jinlian, the tallest woman officially confirmed by Guinness World Records in recorded history
Sultan Kösen, the tallest man alive
Siddiqa Parveen
Adam Rainer, the only known human ever to be documented as both a dwarf and a giant[31]
References

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Robert Pershing Wadlow". Alton Museum of History and Art. Archived from the original on September 14, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.

^ Jump up to: a b c "Tallest Man". Guinness World Records. March 19, 2010. Archived from the original on March 19, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010. at Wayback Machine

^ "World's Tallest Man". Worlds Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction. Retrieved May 14, 2018.

^ "Robert Wadlow, World's Tallest Man, Alton Illinois". Roadside America. Retrieved March 7, 2012.

^ Guinness World Records 2025. Guinness World Records Ltd. 2024. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-913484-55-2.

^ Guinness World Records 2005. Guinness World Records Ltd. 2004. p. 16. ISBN 085112192-6.

^ "Alton High School Tatler Yearbook 1936". 1936.

^ "On This Day in 1918: The tallest man in the world is born". Guinness World Records. February 22, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.

^ Jump up to: a b c Nickell, Joe (2005). Secrets of the Sideshows. University Press of Kentucky. p. 89. ISBN 0813123585.

^ "Robert Pershing Wadlow - Alton's Gentle Giant". altonweb.com. Alton Museum of History and Art. Retrieved August 18, 2018.

^ Jump up to: a b c Drimmer 1991, p. 60.

^ "Measuring 8 ft 11 inches, Wadlow was the tallest man in history. At age eight, he was taller than his father". The Vintage News. October 21, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2018.

^ "Robert Wadlow 'worlds tallest man, worlds tallest mason'". Illinois Freemasonry Magazine. Vol. 15, no. 1. Winter 2009. p. 5. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011.

^ Drimmer 1991, pp. 68, 70.

^ "Tallest man ever". Guinness World Records.

^ Hartzman, Marc (2006). American sideshow : an encyclopedia of history's most wondrous and curiously strange performers. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. p. 432. ISBN 9781440649912. OCLC 460991173.

^ Brannan, Dan (July 14, 2010). "Wadlow died 70 years ago Thursday". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 31, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2011.

^ "Robert Wadlow: The tallest man ever".

^ Drimmer 1991, p. 50.

^ Jump up to: a b c d Drimmer 1991, p. 51.

^ Jump up to: a b c Drimmer 1991, p. 52.

^ "'At the age of 9 he could carry his father up a flight of stairs'". South Coast Herald. November 4, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2022.

^ Jump up to: a b "Ten-Year-Olds". The Pittsburgh Press. October 28, 1928. p. 39. OCLC 2266185, 9208497, 751750633. Retrieved May 14, 2018.

^ Drimmer 1991, p. 54.

^ Jump up to: a b Drimmer 1991, p. 55.

^ Colombraro, Rosemarie (February 2007). "Standing tall: the world's tallest Boy Scout". Boys' Life. Irving, TX: Boy Scouts of America: 24–25. ISSN 0006-8608. OCLC 1027475257.

^ Drimmer 1991, p. 56.

^ Jump up to: a b Drimmer 1991, p. 58.

^ Jump up to: a b Drimmer 1991, p. 66.

^ Drimmer 1991, pp. 50, 68.

^ Goldfarb, Kara (January 25, 2026). "Inside The Life Of Adam Rainer, The Only Person In History Who Was Both A Dwarf And A Giant". All That's Interesting. Retrieved March 24, 2026.

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