Robert Wadlow, the tallest man ever known with his family in Alton Illinois 1935. Robert was 8 foot 11 inches tall! Robert Pershing Wadlow was born to Addie Johnson and Harold Wadlow in Alton, Illinois on February 22, 1918, and was the oldest of five children. In elementary school, they had to make a special desk for him due to his size. After graduating from Alton High School in 1936, he enrolled in Shurtleff College with the intention of studying law. By the time he had graduated from high school, he was 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m). Wadlows size began to take its toll: he required leg braces to walk, and had little feeling in his legs and feet. Despite these difficulties, Wadlow never used a wheelchair. Wadlow was a celebrity; he was well-known owing to his 1936 U.S. tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus and his 1938 promotional tour with the INTERCO. He continued participating in tours and public appearances, though only in his normal street clothes. His shoes were provided to him free of charge by a shoe company for which he did promotional work and appearances.Examples still exist in several locations throughout the US, including Snyders Shoe Store of Ludington and Manistee, Michigan, and the Alton Museum of History and Art. Wadlow was a Freemason. In 1939, he petitioned Franklin Lodge #25 in Alton, Illinois, and by late November of that year was raised to the degree of Master Mason under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F & A.M. Wadlows Freemason ring was the largest ever made. One year before his death, he passed John Rogan as the tallest person ever. On June 27, 1940 (eighteen days before his death), he was measured at 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) by doctors C. M. Charles and Cyril MacBryde of Washington University in St. Louis. On July 4, 1940 (11 days before his death), during a professional appearance at the Manistee National Forest Festival, a faulty brace irritated his ankle, causing a blister and subsequent parasitic infection. Doctors treated him with a blood transfusion and emergency surgery, but his condition worsened due to an auto-immune disorder, and on July 15, 1940, he died in his sleep at age 22
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 02:18:57 +0000