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Felipe Birriel Fernández - 7'11" (241 cm)
Felipe Birriel, also known as "El Gigante de Carolina" (The Giant of Carolina) (August 16, 1916-March 15, 1994) is considered to have been the tallest Puerto Rican, with an unconfirmed height of 2.413 meters or seven feet eleven inches (7' 11").
Birriel, born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, was the son of Pedro and Dionisia Birriel and was the oldest of six siblings. His highest level of education was up to the second grade in elementary school. As a child, Birriel was sent to the farm fields where he helped his parents plant vegetable seeds. He also worked in the fields picking fruits and coffee beans and as a waterboy, delivered water to the sugar cane workers.
In 1932, when Birriel was 16 years old, he started to grow at an alarming rate. One day, he went to visit a doctor because he felt sick with dizzy spells and because he was also feeling weak. The doctor informed Birriel that for some unknown reason, his pituitary gland had developed a tumor. Even though the condition did not have a known cure, it was still treatable.
The treatment required a radio therapy machine which could only be found in the United States. The machine was sent in 1932, but it wasn't until 1941 — nine years later — that it finally arrived in Puerto Rico.
Birriel lived with his brother and sister-in-law in the town of Carolina and became something of a folk hero and known as "El Gigante de Carolina" (The Giant of Carolina). In 1974, during the celebration of the FIBA World Basketball Championships celebrated in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Birriel was the guest of honor and was invited to the basketball court, in front of all the spectators he dunked the ball without jumping, a standing ovation followed.
The Government of Puerto Rico and local businessmen helped him economically, since his daily personal needs could not be met with the money that he earned in personal appearances. The owners of local furniture stores also helped Birriel by making furniture especially for him. His health, however had worsened progressively and he died from a heart attack on March 15, 1994, at the age of 77, in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Birriel was unique in reaching a relatively old age while being as tall as he was; most extremely tall people tend to experience serious disabling medical conditions such as the ones that eventually crippled, and then killed, Robert Wadlow (the tallest human in the world during his lifetime) at an early age.
Carolina is also known as the "City of the Giants" in honor of Birriel. Carolina also unveiled a mural which states the following: "Carolina Tierra de Gigantes" (Carolina City of Giants). The BSN basketball team of Carolina is called "Los Gigantes de Carolina" (The Carolina Giants) and the town has dedicated a museum to the memory of Birriel and has also named a street "El Paseo Felipe Birriel".
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Is this Felipe Birriel, or is this a Nicaraguan Giant?
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What's new?
10-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Sam Harris, Pavel Podkolzin, Samuel Deguara, Ring Ayuel (I thought I made him a page a long time ago!) and Lionel Mineo. New image(s) of Paul Herold added.
09-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Garth Joseph.
New image(s) of Conrad Furrows, Eddie Carmel and Neil Fingleton added.
08-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Abd Al Wahab Al Hamowi and Dikembe Mutombo. New image(s) of Väinö Myllyrinne, Jakob Nacken, Henry Mullens, Martin van Buren Bates, Cornelius Bruns, Ralph Madsen, Paul Herold, Gilbert Reichert and Eleanor Wagner added.
07-03-2010:
New image(s) of Gottlieb Fischer, Väinö Myllyrinne, Anna Haining Swan, “Kentucky giant” and Chang Woo-Gow added.
06-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Tommy Poullas and Matt Slaninka.
New image(s) of Ben Brown, Mme. Abomah and Lewis Wilkins added.
05-03-2010:
New image(s) of Elfriede Fischer and Gottlieb Fischer added.
New magazine article(s) added for Amenates Tingitsoglu.
Three new Books on Giants added (in .pdf format): Quelques Geants Americains (1909) by Blanchard, Giants and Giantism (1895) by Dana and Some famous giants (1897) by Smythies.
04-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Sami Eerola, Silis Bishop, Colonel William Baker, Ben Brown and Will Foster. New image(s) of Santhosh Kumar, Igor Vovkovinskiy, Bao Xi Shun and Ijaz Ahmed added.
03-03-2010:
New image(s) of William Bradley, Hussain Bisad, Alan Bannister, Robert Wadlow - later years, Robert Wadlow Artefacts, Santhosh Kumar, Ghulam Shabbir, Muhammad Riaz, Azad Khan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz Mazari, Kenny George and Ijaz Ahmed added. Ijaz Ahmed has been updgraded to 7'10" after new photographic evidence and discussions on our message board.
02-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Moussa Seck. New image(s) of Huang Chang-Chiu, Igor Vovkovinskiy, Sultan Kösen, Yao Ming, Haq Nawaz, Bao Xi Shun, Willie Camper and Neil Fingleton added.
01-03-2010:
New page(s) added for Alma Bataillard and Alan Bannister.
New image(s) of Rob Bruintjes, Ted Evans, Robert Wadlow - early years, Robert Wadlow Artefacts and Ijaz Ahmed added. Medical article(s) about Jack Earle added.
28-02-2010:
New image(s) of Albert Johan Kramer and Christopher Greener added.
27-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Cleve Gill, Balahu and Choung Chi Lang. New image(s) of Lewis Wilkins, Marianne Wehde and Chang Woo-Gow added.
26-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Felipe Manzo Reyes, Vladimir Tkachenko.
New image(s) of Frederick Kempster and Neil Fingleton added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Shaun Aisbitt added. New video(s) of Rolf Mayr and Paul Sturgess added.
25-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Martin Miklosik, Priest Lauderdale and Ragchaa Narka.
24-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Haq Nawaz and Martin Salmerón. New image(s) of Suparwono, Ted Evans and Willie Camper added.
23-02-2010:
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22-02-2010:
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21-02-2010:
New image(s) of Ri Myong-hun, Chuck Nevitt, Gheorghe Muresan and Ralph Sampson added.
20-02-2010:
New image(s) of Baptiste Hugo, Manute Bol, George Bell, Sun Ming Ming, Shawn Bradley and Igor Vovkovinskiy added.
19-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Rajan Adhikari and Shaun Aisbitt.
New image(s) of Liu Yu-Qing, Clifford Marshall Thompson, George Auger, Jack Earle, Noah Orr, Gottlieb Fischer, Elfriede Fischer, Robert Wadlow - early years, Azad Khan Masood and Muhammad Riaz added.
18-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Juan de la Cruz Sihuana, Jean Bihin and Hu Chun-Chang.
New image(s) of Mulia, Yao Defen, Sandy Allen, Victoria Hall, Liu Yu-Qing, Ella Ewing, Maria Feliciana dos Santos and Zeng Jinlian added.
17-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Dharmendra Pratap Singh, Bienvenu Letuni and Morten Poulsen. New image(s) of Wang Feng-Jun, Kaatje van Dyk and Kang Jianhua added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Frederick Kempster added.
16-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Thomas Brockman and Thomas Dilkens.
New image(s) of Muhammad Riaz, Aurangzeb Khan, Don Koehler, Chris Lister and Clifford Marshall Thompson added. New video(s) of Jakob Nacken added.
15-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Muhammad Riaz.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Buck Nolan, Zeng Jinlian, Ella Ewing, Mme. Abomah, Delores Pullard and Sandy Allen added.
14-02-2010:
Newspaper clipping(s) about Gilbert Reichert, Clifford Marshall Thompson, Henry Mullens and Rachid Bara added.
13-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Walter Tatake Quisbert and various Statistics.
New image(s) of Anders Gustav 'Big Gust' Anderson, Emmanuel Joseph Cheval and Mme. Abomah added.
12-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Azad Khan Masood.
New image(s) of Eleanor Wagner added.
New video(s) of Ghulam Shabbir added.
11-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Eleanor Wagner.
New image(s) of Jim Porter added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Robert Wadlow - later years, Robert Wadlow - early years (30 new articles in total for Wadlow), Parimal Chandra Barman, Clifford Marshall Thompson and 13 new newspaper clippings about Johann Petursson added.
10-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Leah May and Elizabeth Lyska.
New image(s) of Neil Fingleton and Sun Ming Ming added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Gilbert Reichert, George Auger, Edouard Beaupré and Erwin Johnson added. One image moved from Antonin Cros to Eugene Arceau as previously misidentified. John F. Carroll has been moved to the 'More information needed' section.
09-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Noah Orr.
New image(s) of Robert Wadlow - early years and Gabriel Estęvăo Monjane added. Newspaper clipping(s) about Carolina Rascón, George Auger, Aurangzeb Khan, Albert Brough and Robert Wadlow - later years added.
08-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Muhammad Hussein Heikal, Arvydas Sabonis, Eric Gingold and Roberto Duenas.
New image(s) of George Gracie, John Aasen, Kaatje van Dyk, Gottlieb Fischer, Joseph Drasal, Zech DeVits and Albert Johan Kramer added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Zeng Jinlian added.
07-02-2010:
Newspaper clipping(s) about Henry Clay Thruston and Mme. Abomah added.
06-02-2010:
New image(s) of Ewart Potgieter added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Conrad Furrows, Sandy Allen, George Bell, Anders Gustav Anderson, Edouard Beaupré and Clifford Marshall Thompson added.
05-02-2010:
New image(s) of Clifford Marshall Thompson added.
04-02-2010:
New image(s) of Santhosh Kumar added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Sandy Allen, Francis Sheridan, Clifford Marshall Thompson, Henry Mullens, Bernard Coyne, Delores Pullard, Conrad Furrows, Angus MacAskill, Anna Haining Swan, Robert Wadlow, Baptiste Hugo and Zeng Jinlian added.
03-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Patrick O'Conner, John Turner and Conrad Furrows. New image(s) of Joseph Schippers and Albert Brough added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Gabriel Estęvăo Monjane, Robert Hales, Sylvia Hardy, Robert Wadlow as well as a young Robert Wadlow added.
02-02-2010:
New page(s) added for George McArthur and Roman Gumenyuk added.
New image(s) of Lock Martin and Clifford Marshall Thompson added.
01-02-2010:
New page(s) added for Aleksandar Rindin, Boban Marjanovic, Hasheem Thabeet, Max Zhang and Choi Hong Man added.
New image(s) of Max Palmer and Henry Alexander Cooper added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Sandy Allen, Lars Tollefson Opsata and Christopher Greener added.
I have also moved one picture from Lock Martin's page to Max Palmer's page.
30-01-2010:
New image(s) of the van Droysen sister Dora Helms and Kaatje van Dyk added.
Newspaper clipping(s) about Albert Brough, Charles Byrne, Patrick Cotter O'Brien, Christopher Greener and Jim Porter added.
29-01-2010:
New page(s) added for Emil Assad Rached, Louis Frenz and George Gracie.
New image(s) of Willie Camper, Fernand Bachelard, Ralph Madsen, Anna Haining Swan, Charles Byrne, Felipe Birriel Fernández, William Evans, Johann Petursson, Robert Wadlow and Walter Straube added.
28-01-2010:
New image(s) of Eddie Carmel, Cecil Boling, Väinö Myllyrinne, Henry Mullens, Baptiste Hugo, Ted Evans, Willie Camper, Rayford Johnson and Johann Petursson added.
27-01-2010:
New image(s) of Al Tomaini, Frederick Kempster, Jakob Nacken, Robert Wadlow and Johann Petursson added.
26-01-2010:
New page(s) added for Jakob Nacken. New image(s) of Jack Earle added.
Two medical articles about Frederick Kempster added. Based on new medical and photographic evidence (and the usual pressure :-)) I have upgraded Frederick Kempster's height.
25-01-2010:
New image(s) of Mianko Karoo and Gottlieb Fischer added.
[....some older news snipped....]
17-06-2009: Installed discussion forum. You can join it here...
12-06-2009: Started building the website.
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