Sun Mingming

In this Chinese name, the family name is Sun.

Sun Mingming

Sun in 2006
Personal information
Born	(1983-08-23) August 23, 1983 (age 41) Bayan County, China
Listed height	2.36 m (7 ft 9 in)
Listed weight	168 kg (370 lb)
Career information
College	Ventura College (2005–2006)
NBA draft	2005: undrafted
Playing career	2006–2012
Position	Center
Career history
2006	Dodge City Legend
2007	Maryland Nighthawks
2007	Grand Rapids Flight
2007	Fuerza Regia
2008	Grand Rapids Flight
2008–2009	Hamamatsu Phoenix
2009–2012	Beijing Ducks

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]

Basketball career

United States

Sun played with several American minor league teams, including the USBL team Dodge City Legend,^[5] the ABA team Maryland Nighthawks,^[6] and the IBL team Grand Rapids Flight. He was also drafted by the Harlem Globetrotters in 2007, being the tallest player in their history to be drafted by them, although he would never play for them.

Mexico and Japan

Later, Sun played in the Mexican league with Fuerza Regia^[7] and in Japan's bj league with Hamamatsu Phoenix.

Return to China

In 2009, he returned to China to play for the Beijing Ducks in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

Personal life

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]

Filmography

Film

Year	English title	Original title	Role
2007	Rush Hour 3		Kung-Fu Giant
2016	Funny Soccer	笑林足球	Dragon
2017	The Thousand Faces of Dunjia	奇門遁甲	Goldfinger

TV series

Year	English title	Chinese title	Role	Notes
2016	Singing All Along	秀麗江山之長歌行	Giant
	Candle in the Tomb	鬼吹灯之精绝古城	Honghou

See also

• Robert Bobroczkyi
• Neil Fingleton
• Olivier Rioux
• List of tallest people

References

1. "Sun Ming Ming, 7'9" pro basketball player".
2. "Official website".
3. Sierra, Jorge (January 15, 2006). "Sun Ming Ming: 'The NBA is a realistic goal'". Times Online. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
4. Romine, Rich (June 28, 2007). "Sun makes basketball camp exciting at Ventura College". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
5. Kinder, Joshua. "Legend Signs World's Seventh Tallest Man". Retrieved 2007-04-30.
6. "Maryland Nighthawks officially sign 7'8" Sun Ming Ming". January 31, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
7. "Chinese giant Sun Ming Ming set to play in Mexico". The China Post. Monterrey, Mexico: AFP. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
8. "Surgery May Help Giant Achieve NBA Dreams". ABC. November 28, 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-13.
9. "Fundraiser Launched To Get Life-Saving Surgery For Basketball Player Sun Ming Ming". Retrieved 2008-03-13.
10. "Record holder profile: Meet Sun Mingming and Xu Yan – the world's tallest married couple". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records, London, UK. Retrieved 12 January 2017.

External links

• Sun Ming Ming at IMDb
• An article about him in Al-Ahram (in Arabic)