Doubts Concerning Don Koehler

[grusantigone]

In some photos he can look Wadlowesque. In others, not so much. I don't have a problem believing he was 8'2" at his peak.

(Actually, the man in the first photo looks very small, going by the size of his luggage.)

[lasoi]

As with Takioullah, Nashnush and Carroll I think we need to trust the measurements done in the past.TTM

But we can agree it should be considered who did the measuring. Guinness didn't claim to make the 8'1" measurement on Takioullah. They seemed to merely be repeating what someone told them. And photographic evidence suggests he is about 7'10".

Nashnush? Well you know my opinion on that one.

I agree that Koehler was probably closer to 7'10" or 7'11 standing height if indeed he couldn't raise his head. But, like Carroll, with better posture he'd have probably been about the claimed height of 8' plus.

Which brings us back to the question of differentiating between standing heights and projected heights with better posture. IMHO, an asterisk should accompany listed names of individuals who didn't actually stand their attributed height.

[warnie]

Believe me, I really WANT Koehler to be 8 foot 2!!! Here are the issues I have with him being that height...

In fourteen years of research, I have not come across ONE SHRED of medical documentation on his case. Not one mention in a medical journal, not a single reference in an endocrinology textbook...nothing. There must be something out there...doctor's notes, an unpublished medical paper...something that will shed some light on his true height.

Now, I have no doubt that Koehler was eunuchoidal and continued to grow well into his adulthood, possibly to the age of forty. However, another issue I have is the claim of 8' 2" at a time when he clearly wasn't 8' 2". As I stated in a previous post, his height was ALWAYS listed as under 7 and a half feet during the period of his life BEFORE he became a public figure. Every press clipping, every plug for the Tall Club...NONE of them mention him as 8' 2" throughout the mid to late 1940s. Then, as he begins making public appearances for an automobile manufacturer called Hudson, demonstrating just how roomy this car is for the tall driver, he suddenly becomes 8' 2" and remains so for the rest of his life. Although photographic evidence from later in Koehler's life suggests that he might have flirted with the 7' 10" mark, I just cannot believe that he stood more than 7' 6" or so in the early 1950s. Also, is it merely a coincidence that he miraculously eventually stopped growing at the height he had been claiming as a young man?

I will query a few of my friends in the endocrinological profession here in Chicago to see if any of Koehler's medical records still exist. In the meantime, I will submit a pair of recently acquired photos, taken in 1951 and 1952, respectively, for your scrutiny. IN these photos, Koehler is in his mid twenties and seems to NOT be affected by spinal issues. In any case, it appears that he is standing rather straight...

[warnie]

Here is Koehler a year later, in 1952.

[ghbearman]

Of course, the immediate question is, how tall are the gents standing with Koehler? In interviews he has said that he chose to associate with tall people. So...these people are tall. Does that affect the assessment?
edit: And thanks for the great photos!!

[ghbearman]

I suppose as a counter to warnie's post, one could use these photos as useful:


Is it possible to work out the make of fridge and determine its height?

The men in this photo are said to be over six feet tall. The man on the right appears to be of the order of Plunkett in heels.

In both these, we seem to have the means of testing the giant's height, whereas in warnie's photos (apart from possibly the background car) this is more difficult.

[lasoi]

Those are nice new photos warnie and he clearly isn't 8' tall in them. He must have continued to grow late into his life. In the photo with Mr. Frost he appears to be quite a bit taller, assuming Mr. Frost was 6' tall.

[ghbearman]

David Frost is 5'11.5, according to celebheights.

[ghbearman]

Those are nice new photos warnie and he clearly isn't 8' tall in them.

Curious to know how you know this, please. How do you know how tall the guys are in the Social Security pic, for example. (Compared with say, the Sombrero pic I posted)

[warnie]

We DO have a bit of perspective in a few of Koehler's pictures. The bellhop with the luggage pictured with Koehler near the elevator is Eddie Petti, who was exactly 5 feet tall in his shoes. Koehler's sister, Donna, was 5 foot 9, which probably makes her about 5' 11" (in her shoes, that is) in the photo of the two siblings out for a stroll in 1952. In the photo taken at the Social Security office, the gent in the double breasted pinstriped suit seems to be rather short and squat (look at the proportion of his arms and legs to his body). One of the gents in that photo (I'm not sure which one) is Chicago Judge Marjan Staniec, who was still active in the 1990s. If we can figure out how tall Judge Staniec was, we'll have yet another point of perspective. In the photo taken at the Hudson Auto Show in 1951, Koehler is posing with Ed Roberts and Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Creighton. Roberts is the taller of the two men, by the way...

I did a reverse calculation to gauge the heights of the other men in the photo based on Koehler's claim of 8 foot 2. In order for Koehler's claim to hold any water, we would have to believe that Creighton stood a bit over 6 foot 5 and that Roberts stood just under 6 foot 10. I would very much like to see how my calculations compare to those of our resident expert on perspective, lasoi, whose opinion I always trust.