Sun Mingming (Chinese: 孙明明; pinyin: Sūn Míngmíng, born August 23, 1983) is a Chinese former professional basketball player. He was the tallest professional basketball player in the world and was measured by the Guinness World Records as 2.36 m (7 ft 9 in) tall and weighing 168 kg (370 lb).[1]
Early life
He was born in a small town near Bayan County, Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, China. He has two siblings: a brother and a sister.[2] He did not begin playing basketball until he was 15 years old.[3]
College career
Sun attended and played basketball at Ventura College, a community college in Ventura, CA. He played basketball there for only the 2005–2006 season, before moving on to play professional basketball.[4]
In the summer of 2005, Sun discovered that he had a benign tumor attached to his pituitary gland.[8] Because he had neither health insurance nor enough money to pay for the more than $100,000 in medical bills, his sports agent, Charles Bonsignore of Passing Lane Sports, started a fundraiser to raise the necessary money.[9] The tumor was successfully removed on September 26, 2005.[citation needed]
On 4 August 2013, he married Xu Yan, who is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall. They are recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest living married couple with their combined height of 13 feet 10.72 inches (423.47 cm).[10]
