Tallest/Biggest person you know or met in your real life?

ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249

ColoradoTeamsOverOhio3249

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Ok, so not just asking “Who’s the tallest person in the world”? But just asking you personally, out of all the people maybe you’ve encountered or maybe consider friends or associates in your life. Who was/IS the “Tallest/Biggest” person you’ve ever stood across from? Or basically was a “Giant” compared to you? And what was their height maybe?

I think maybe one Id mention was a teacher back in college, don’t want to tell a big story about him, but he did tell the class he was 6 feet 7 inches??? Id say other than that, that’s probably “biggest” person I’ve ever seen in my real life?
 
 
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Kid at my school looks to be about 6'8" and might still be growing, too. It's the only time in my adult life that I recall having to adjust my head and neck angle to look up at someone in order to make eye contact. I'm a few inches north of 6' myself.
 
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Isaac “Zeus” Austin played center for the men’s hoops team at Arizona State and for the Miami Heat. Used to have to occasionally guard him in pick up games in Tempe. It did not go well for me. Zeus was tall, big and skilled. Nice guy, though.
 
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B.J. Mullens (7-0) when he played for Canal Winchester. Stood next to him a few times during pregame when I'd talk to the officials. Very impressive.

Family - my wife's nephew at 6-7 to 6-8. On my side, a couple of cousins who hit 6-5.
 
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Dave Cowens (6'9") of the Boston Celtics. This was when he was in college at Florida State. I had a friend on the FSU team and went to a couple practices with him and met Cowens. Also worked with a 6'9" center for the Bethune Cookman basketball team in Daytona.
 
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I sat right behind the scorers table for a Cavs game in the early '80s when they really stunk and got to see Manut Bol check in; was maybe 6 feet from him. It was the most incredible human being I have ever seen in my life. The height was one thing but those limbs just went on forever.
 
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SLS said:
Got a high five from Wilt Chamberlain in front of the Cincinnati Gardens. I was hanging out the window of a schoolbus loaded with us altar boys who had gone to the Globe Trotters game.
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Sitting in a school bus is probably the only way to have gotten a high five from Champerlain. I imagine you all were about eye level?
 
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When I was a freshman at WVU in 1986, I played in a pick up game at the Towers dorms court. On my team was a guy mamed Darryl Prue, who was the previous years Atlanta 10 Freshman of the Year. Darryl was 6'8". He tried to pass me the ball twice and I couldn't catch the ball either time do to the velocity and sudden, unexpected nature of the passes. A year later I transferred to Slippery Rock due to embarrassment.....and grades.
 
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I grew up in a very tall family and I'm the runt at 6'5". Even my sisters are over 6'.

My grandmother was 6'3".

The crazy part is, out of 27 boys in my graduating class I was 14th tallest.

I played a lot of basketball over the years and routinely played against guys who were 6'8" or taller. One in particular stands out though as he was the only one to "posterize" me. A seven footer who went on to play a dozen years in the NBA. I tried to take a charge against him on a fast break. I was just inside the foul line (about 12 feet in front of the rim) and I remember his knee flying past my ear as he hurdled me on a dunk of beauty. I didn't even attempt to fall backwards as he never touched me. I remember turning just in time to see him absolutely crush the rim.
 
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Indiandad said:
I grew up in a very tall family and I'm the runt at 6'5". Even my sisters are over 6'.

My grandmother was 6'3".

The crazy part is, out of 27 boys in my graduating class I was 14th tallest.

I played a lot of basketball over the years and routinely played against guys who were 6'8" or taller. One in particular stands out though as he was the only one to "posterize" me. A seven footer who went on to play a dozen years in the NBA. I tried to take a charge against him on a fast break. I was just inside the foul line (about 12 feet in front of the rim) and I remember his knee flying past my ear as he hurdled me on a dunk of beauty. I didn't even attempt to fall backwards as he never touched me. I remember turning just in time to see him absolutely crush the rim.
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I remember you saying you were a bigfoot.

Obviously we have a lot more mobility today but there used to be some communities in Ohio that were taller...and some shorter due to relatively closed breeding.

I'm 6'3" and can tell you growing up in the Toledo area every HS had numerous 6'6"+ kids and you simply do not see that today which is because our more talented folks have moved away over the last 25 years. My HS baseball team was in USAToday for having the tallest pitching staff in the US (6'6, 6'5, 6'8, 6'6 - and none live in area today - brain drain).

Had a buddy from NYC area visit Western MI once and he was enamored by all of the tall blonde women (heavy German/Dutch area vs. NYC area where every girl looks like Snooki). ;)
 
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SLS said:
I had a buddy who was 6'7' and we rode around in his '64 Volkswagen bug. He played basketball at Tennessee Tech.
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A college friend of mine has a brother who is 7'0" and a son who is 6'10". The brother was not athletic and the son played basketball in HS but wasn't great.
 
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In 1996, my family and I stayed at the same hotel in Disney World where the US Men’s Olympic Basketball team was training before the Atlanta games. On our first day there was a private screening for the team and their families of Shaquille O’Neal’s film Shazam. Guests at the resort were allowed to stand along the red carpet for autographs and photos so my brothers and I got to meet Shaq that day. As a kid, he seemed like a literal giant compared to us. We also got to meet David Robinson who is likewise 7'1". He just seemed super tall.

About a decade ago, David Robinson's son played football at Notre Dame with my cousin and "The Admiral" stopped by my family's tailgate parties one Saturday. Seeing him again 15 years later now as a grown adult myself, he was still the tallest person at the tailgate, but I didn't have the same awestruck wonder I did as a child.
 
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EHS 2001 said:
In 1996, my family and I stayed at the same hotel in Disney World where the US Men’s Olympic Basketball team was training before the Atlanta games. On our first day there was a private screening for the team and their families of Shaquille O’Neal’s film Shazam. Guests at the resort were allowed to stand along the red carpet for autographs and photos so my brothers and I got to meet Shaq that day. As a kid, he seemed like a literal giant compared to us. We also got to meet David Robinson who is likewise 7'1". He just seemed super tall.

About a decade ago, David Robinson's son played football at Notre Dame with my cousin and "The Admiral" stopped by my family's tailgate parties one Saturday. Seeing him again 15 years later now as a grown adult myself, he was still the tallest person at the tailgate, but I didn't have the same awestruck wonder I did as a child.
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I never met Shaq but I did stand near him as he walked off the court once and he is a GIGANTIC man.
 
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I find it interesting that nearly every reply in here has to do with height more than overall weight /height combinations. The exception would be the mention of Shaq, being a gigantic man.

I did some research into height a few years back, and was surprised to find that red heads are the tallest caucasians. There is an area of Holland where men are red heads and average over 6'7". My family comes from Holland and apparently every now and again we see a red head reach 7' in our family. Not many are athletes in the true sense of the word. One of the taller of my sons once had his coach tell him he wouldn't be on the team if he were 6' tall with the same temperament and aggressiveness.

I went to a relative's wedding a few years back where the groom was 7'0" and his bride was 6'4". The groom's uncle later mentioned to me that was the longest wedding he had ever been to. I looked perplexed? He was referring to their combined height, not the length of the ceremony..
They had a baby recently, red head, 23" at birth. I marked him on the doorway Christmas morning, currently just a bit taller than his dad was at that age.

With great height comes opportunity to impress young children, and to make many new friends. There are plenty of downsides as well, heart issues that often lead to death many years earlier than the average size person.
 
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