A life-size bronze statue of Robert Wadlow stands on the lawn of the Southern Illinois University Dental Campus in Alton, Illinois.
It’s eight feet, 11 inches tall. As I said, life-size.
Alton’s Gentleman Giant was born in 1918 and died of an infected foot blister on July 15, 1940. The Guiness Book of World Records would list Wadlow as the tallest human being in history. He’s an Alton legend I heard about ever since I was a kid. Older people would show photos they had of Robert’s shoes or of their father posing next to Robert. Like his height, his gentle nature wa part of the legend.
Born on February 22, 1918 to Addie and Harold Wadlow, Robert was of normal size at 8-and-a-half pounds but an overactive pituitary gland pumped an abnormal amount of growth hormones through his system, something that doctors could deal with today, but beyond the skills of medical science of his day. At one-year-old, Robert weighed 44 pounds and he was six feet tall by the time he was eight years old.
Despite the immense challenge, Robert made efforts to maintain a normal childhood. He collected stamps and matchbooks, enjoyed photography, and joined the Boy Scouts. But he literally stood out. At age 13, he was the tallest Boy Scout at seven feet, four inches.
He had to deal with brittleness of his bones. Although granted a scholarship to Alton’s Shurtleff College, he had to quit after one year due to his difficulty in getting from building to building, especially during icy winter conditions. Afterwards, he signed for a tour with the Ringling Brothers Circus at age 19.
Generally, Robert’s health was fine in his early years. He did, however develop persistent problems with his feet, and not just because he had to buy size 37 shoes.
He would eventually be supplied free shoes while serving as the goodwill ambassador for the International Shoe Company. For them, the 20-year-old logged more than 300,000 miles, visiting 800 communities in 41 states. His dad’s car had the front seat removed to accomodate Robert.
The real problem with his feet had to do with his inability to feel sensation in them. He was unable to feel blisters developing on his feet until it had happened. It was one of these blisters which became infected while he was making an appearance in Manistee, Minnesota in July 1940. Despite emergency surgery and blood transfusions, his temperature continued to rise and the Gentle Giant died in his sleep on July 15, 1940.
Alton businesses respectuflly closed on the day of Robert’s funeral. A dozen pallbearers assisted by eight other men carried the 22-year-old’s 1,000 pound coffin to his gravesite. Over 40,000 people signed the guest register.
Robert Wadlow is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Upper Alton.
Robert’s statue was dedicated in 1985 at the campus SIU Dental School campus where he enrolled in Shurtleff College in 1936 on a scholarship, intending to become an attorney. The Alton Museum of History and Art has a display of some of memorabilia relating to Robert Wadlow, Alton’s Gentleman Giant.
