Besides Angus MacAskill, whose category I’m not even sure, who were the true giants in history? Googling on gigantism vs acromegaly, the difference seems to lie on time of occurrence. Gigantism happens during puberty, resulting in unusual linear growth. Acromegaly happens later upon maturity and often results in deformation. Both appear to be caused by abnormalities with the pituitary gland.
Are there recorded natural giants who attained unusual size and height not due to abnormalities in the pituitary gland? How does one even define a giant, regardless of the cause? I have a friend whose six year old son is already five feet seven and weighs 180 pounds. He said the doctors didn’t think it was due to gigantism. Their kid is just big. They said he will be at least 6’7" by the time he’s 18 and it’s a good bet he’ll reach 7’ upon maturity. That doesn’t sound so unusual in this age but he will not look anything like an NBA center, they said. He’ll be as heavy as two NBA centers, with a daily kcal need of at least 12,000 (how does one convert that to daily food intake?)
Sorry, the parents don’t want to disclose names, location, and pictures.
Interesting enough even though André the Giant was billed as 7 feet 4 inches he may not have been over 7 feet tall. His actual height is disputed. In photos with Wilt Chamberlain he looks a few inches shorter. Wilt as listed as 7 feet 1 inches in NBA records.
When doing interviews for the then WWWF(later WWF then WWE) in the 70s they would have Andre stand on a crate to make him seem even taller than he actual was.
Edit: Any claims of a pro wrestler’s billed height and weight should assume to be more than their real stats.
Your friend’s son is 5 feet 7 inches at the age of 6?
According to Wikipedia the tallest recorded man in history, Robert Wadlow, was 5 feet 7 inches at the age six and he died at the age of 22 with a height of 8 feet 11 inches. He did have abnormalities with his pituitary gland though. i just thought I would mention it as a point of reference.
So did that actor who played the English neighbor on The Jeffersons sitcom back in the 80s? 70s? He was acting in a play, and a doctor in the audience noticed the way the actor’s jaw looked and told him to have it checked out. He received some kind of treatment that stopped the process. So, if it’s caught early, most of the major side effects can be avoided.
Wasn’t Andre the Giant acromegalic, too?
Oh, and there was a character in the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies, called The Tingler played by an actor name Rondo Hatton. He was acromegalic, too.
This is a link to Wikipedia’s article List of Tallest People. It has some short commentary about the individuals — and links to individual articles.
MacAskill is described as the tallest “true giant.”
Édouard Beaupré (8’3”) is listed as the tallest “strong man”.
Neil Fingleton (7’7”) appeared on Game of Thrones (Mag the Mighty) and played NCAA basketball.