February 22
GENTLE GIANT DAY
How tall is the tallest man? Most information collected before the 1900s can not be proven. In fact, exaggeration and dishonesty prevailed. Even medical papers were unreliable. Depending on the measurements of the time and the translation of such, even Goliath stood a mere 6 feet, 10 inches.
However, there is irrefutable evidence that Robert Pershing Wadlow, born on this day in 1918 in Alton, Illinois, still holds the record for being the tallest recorded man. Oh yes, Robert was quite normal at birth, weighing in at 8.5 lbs. At the age of two, he had a double hernia operation and something changed. He started to grow, and grow and grow. By age 5 he was 5'4" tall and weighed 105 lbs. On his 8th birthday, Robert weighed in at 169 lbs. and topped the ruler at six feet. He grew another foot by the time he was thirteen and still another by his seventeenth year.
On June 27, 1940, Mr. Wadlow was measured by Dr. Cyril MacBryde and Dr. C. M. Charles, Associate Professor of Anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. They recorded Wadlow's height at 8' 11.1". A week later, Wadlow was fitted with a brace on his right leg. The brace fit poorly and inflamed his ankle, causing cellulitis. Robert Wadlow died from the infection on July 15, 1940. A coffin was made especially for him: 10'9" long, 32" wide, 30" deep. Had he not died, he would have continued to grow, according to the doctors.
Wadlow, who faced constant public attention and often, ridicule, was always kind, patient and friendly, a demeanor that earned him the nickname 'the gentle giant'. Fortunately he was a gentle giant. If he wasn't, his harassers would have faced a 439 lb. man who wore shoes, size 37AA, a size-25 ring on hands that measured 12 3/4" from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. His arm span was nine feet, five and three-quarter inches.
What we want to know is, where did he buy his clothes? And, could he play basketball?
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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