Our guest speaker for this meeting will be George Bell, former Harlem Globetrotter and the tallest man in the United States. Born in 1957 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Bell is the tallest man in the United States at 7 feet 8 inches (234 cm) as recognized by Guinness World Records. He was a deputy sheriff in Norfolk, Virginia, he played college basketball at Morris Brown College, Biola University, then played with the Harlem Wizards and Harlem Globetrotters.
Bell was featured on the AMC show Freakshow, throughout its two seasons. In an interview for the show, he revealed that he had appeared as an alien who landed on top of the L.A. Coliseum at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He also appeared on season 4 of American Horror Story. He first showed signs of his impending tallness when he was 9 or 10, Bell said, but through high school he never grew so tall that he felt out of place. By the time he hit his early 20s, however, his height had exceeded 7 feet. When he last measured himself, about 20 years ago, he said, he was 7 feet 7 inches. But the measurements for the Guinness book showed he had grown another inch. Bell said he has a medical condition called gigantism, which causes excessive growth hormone secretion during childhood. (Thanks, Wikipedia)
Mark Your Calendar
All Meetings at Croasdaile Country Club
10/18/23 – David Shumate, Radio Play-by-Play Announcer, Duke
11/1/23 – Art Chase, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Duke
11/15/23 – Wes Moore, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, NC State