The Biggest Names In Sports: Athletes Who Tower Over the Competition

Sport: Basketball
Height/Weight: 7’1”/324 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $400 million*

Shaquille O’Neal is considered one of the best NBA players of all time and is also one of the wealthiest. He is also one of the tallest, as he is over seven feet in height. Only 0.000038% of the entire world is over seven feet tall. Shaq was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft in 1992, as the first overall pick.

Shaquille O’Neal @ChloeNews3LV / Twitter.com

He had a long and lucrative career, spanning from 1992 until 2011, and earning him over $300 million in the process. O’Neal would later go on to stay involved in the sport, even after he retired and began to focus on other ventures, such as running Papa John’s franchises. He is now a sports analyst for Inside the NBA, a post-game basketball show on TNT.

One thing about Shaq is that, even though he is a wealthy businessman, he is very involved in charity. Recently, he announced that he was partnering with JCPenney’s for Giving Tuesday. O’Neal and the department store would be distributing gifts, grants, and gift cards to people in need, which definitely fits Shaq’s “man of the people” reputation.

Sport: Wrestling
Height/Weight: 7’4”/529 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $10 million*

Andre the Giant was a professional wrestler and former actor. He had size 22 shoes, and his wrist size was apparently the same as that of a gorilla. The professional wrestler was born in France, and he wrestled for the WWE. His most famous feud was with Hulk Hogan, which culminated at the 1987 WrestleMania III.

Andre The Giant @nodqdotcom / Twitter.com

People loved Andre the Giant, so it was a no-brainer when the WWE inducted him into its first-ever Hall of Fame in 1993. The gentle giant’s gigantism, which was caused by an excess growth hormone that later led to acromegaly, led the wrestler to earn the nickname, “The Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Acting-wise, fans of The Princess Bride will easily recognize him, as he played Fezzick the Giant in the blockbuster movie, which brought home $30 million at the box office. He also, in addition to the tons of screen time he got with the WWE, had a posthumous screen appearance in Trading Mom in 1994.

Sport: Soccer
Height/Weight: 6’7”/165 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $35 million*

Peter Crouch is a former professional soccer player. He was born in Macclesfield, UK, and he played as a striker. His specs while on the team were impressive. While on the English national team, he was capped forty-two times between 2005 and 2010. He scored 22 goals for England during that time, and he was at two World Cups.

Peter Crouch @mspinks10 / Twitter.com

Crouch was also one of the tallest soccer players ever, standing at 6’7” and weighing in at a lean 165 pounds. Crouch retired in 2010 after experts warned that he might have an undiagnosed case of Marfan Syndrome that could explain his unusual height, and which cut his career short.

 Crouch has managed to amass his high net worth from lucrative partnerships with athletic brands like Puma. He also has partnered with McDonald’s Reindeer Ready holiday campaign, using his Twitter account to endorse the brand (and poke fun at his own height, applauding the Halloween costumes in his honor as “fantastic compliments”).

Sport: Tennis
Height/Weight: 6’10”/245 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $32 million*

John Isner is a professional tennis player. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and he has reached a ranking as high as eighth in the world, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals. At 6’10”, Isner is no doubt one of the tallest tennis players in history, and a formidable opponent.

John Isner @BIUK / Twitter.com

He attended the University of Georgia, impressing scouts there with his playing talent. He went pro in 2007, and he won his first title in 2010 at Wimbledon. His 2010 title was one of the longest matches in Wimbledon history, taking a record eleven hours and five minutes to conclude.  Beyond tennis, he earned a sizeable chunk of his net worth from sponsorships from Lacoste, FILA, and Prince.

Whether we’ll see Isner sign an even larger deal with Nike or Adidas is unclear. What is clear is that Isner is still the veritable record-holder in the ATP for the “fastest” official serve on record. It is the third-fastest in tennis as a whole. The speedy pitch hit 157.2MPH at the Davis Cup in 2016.

Sport: Boxing
Height/Weight: 7’/331 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $1 million*

Nikolai Valuev was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1973. He is a former professional boxer. He competed as a boxer from 1993 until 2009, and he won the WBA title twice (in the heavyweight division, of course). He would go on to appear on several TV shows and movies, including Gift With Character, 7 Dwarves, Good Night, Little One, and Eto Smeshno.

Nikolai Valuev @HayemakerBoxing / Twitter.com

Valuev retired on November 10, 2009, just three days after he lost to David Haye, a former cruiserweight champion. Haye, never known for his subtlety, had stated that he considered Valuev a “circus show freak” who “happened to be boxing.”  While his impressive height and weight never earned him a Nike sponsorship, he seemed to do okay on his own.

Valuev is very involved in charity, and he was even a presenter on “Good Night, Little Ones!” which is a long-running Russian TV program for little kids. Valuev has his own Boxing School, with headquarters in Leningrad Oblast and Saint Petersburg. In 2010, a year after he opened his Boxing School, he founded a youth-related charity, the Valuev Sports Foundation. 

Sport: Strongman, MMA
Height/Weight: 6’1”/262
Est Net Worth: $8 million*

Mariusz Pudzianowski is nicknamed “Pudzian” and “Dominator” in his native Poland. He was born in Biala Rawska, Poland, and he isn’t one of the taller members on this list, but he makes up for it by being insanely built. The former strongman has won a record five World’s Strongest Man titles, which is more than any other bodybuilder, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mariusz Pudzianowski Strongman @Wirtualna Polska / Pinterest.com

After boxing, Pudzianowski signed on with a Polish MMA organization. He was originally supposed to take part in just four fights, but he ended up becoming fond of the sport. He has continued to fight opponent after opponent, and The Dominator is, love him or hate him, one of the most entertaining MMA fighters to watch.

Pudzianowski is a former member of the American Top Team, a professional bodybuilding team. In total, he has won twenty-one titles, not just with ATT, but also with Berkut WCA Fight Team. Just imagine what he could to set up against one of the wrestlers from the WWE!

Sport: Bodybuilding
Height/Weight: 5’7”/225 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $5 million*

Nataliya Kuznetsova was born in Chita, Russia. She is 5’7” and weighs 225 pounds, most of which is muscle. She is one of the strongest female bodybuilders of all time, with some of the most developed musculature. She holds the world records for arm-lifting, deadlift, and bench-press titles. She also holds the European records.

Nataliya Kuznetsova @GirlsWhoLiftMen / Twitter.com

Kuznetsova’s most notable win was her IFBB WOS Romania Muscle Fest Amateur Championship title, which she took home in 2018. She began powerlifting when she was fourteen in an attempt to gain mass. She is a graduate of the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture. She is nicknamed “Amazonka,” or “Russian Amazon.”

Kuznetsova can bench press 385 pounds, and she can squat 617 pounds, which is about a third of the weight of a Chevy Spark. Her deadlift record is 529 pounds. The bodybuilder’s biceps measure 18.5 inches. Her most recent record was at the 2019 IFBB Romania Muscle Fest, where she placed second.

Sport: Bodybuilding
Height/Weight: 6’9”/425 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $2 million*

Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, better known by his nickname, “Thor”, was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. He stands 6’9” and weighs 425 pounds, and he is a professional strongman. He is also a professional actor, with credits in the films Kickboxer: Retaliation, Hamlet Pheroun, and Operation Ragnarok.

Hafthor Julius “Thor” Bjornsson @Schwarzenegger / Twitter.com

Bjornsson’s is most famous role thus far has been in HBO’s Game of Thrones, on which he appeared for five seasons as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane. Bjornsson is the first athlete to win the Arnold Strongman Classic, World’s Strongest Man, and Europe’s Strongest Man in the same year. The strongman can deadlift over 992 pounds. 

A fun fact that people might not know about this strongman is that he actually started his athletic career playing basketball. He played for Breioablik, a D1 team in Iceland in 2004, and he continued playing until 2006. He even had a stint playing thirty-two games for a few Icelandic national basketball teams. 

Sport: Bodybuilding
Height/Weight: 5’11”/297 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $10 million*

Retired bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman earns a top spot on this list, as he won the Mr. Olympia title eight years in a row. Before that, Coleman had to work his way to the top. He graduated college and couldn’t find work as an accountant (what he got his Bachelor’s in), so he worked at a pizza place. 

Ronnie Coleman @purexecution / Twitter.com

He ate his free work pizza every day because he was too poor to eat outside of work. He then served as a police officer in Texas until his career in bodybuilding took off.  Over his storied career as an IFBB professional, he won the Mr. Olympia award from 1998 until 2005 and held the record for most wins with twenty-six overall titles.

He is considered one of bodybuilding’s greatest athletes, right next to Arnold Schwarzenegger (with whom he is close friends). Coleman has gone on to become somewhat of an actor, appearing in Ronnie Coleman: The King, which is available to stream on Netflix, The Battle for Olympia, and other scripted reality specials about his career.

Sport: Basketball
Height/Weight: 7’2”/223 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $6 million*

Only a teeny-tiny fraction of women are seven feet tall or over, and Margo Dydek was one of the tallest women in the world, standing 7’2”. She was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1974, and she became a professional basketball player. She was the tallest female pro-athlete in the world.

Margo Dydek @AlexSharpe64 / Twitter.com

Dydek was drafted into the WNBA in 1998. She quickly became a superstar, known especially for her fierce defending abilities. She led the WNBA in blocks nine times before she retired. Sadly, she died in 2011 after suffering a heart attack. Dydek was just thirty-seven years old when she died.

Posthumously, in 2019, the Polish basketball player was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019. Dydek wasn’t just given that award for her playing, she was given that award for her coaching. She coached the Northside Wizards, a Queensland league for several years. Though Queensland never made it to major networks like ESPN, it was still a solid team.

Sport: Hockey
Height/Weight: 6’9”/256 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $50 million*

Zdeno Chara was born in Trencin, Slovakia. He played professional hockey in his home country before coming to America. He is the captain of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. The forty-three-year-old is the tallest NHL player in the history of the league, standing 6’9” tall. He plays for the national team of Slovakia in the Olympics.

Zdeno Chara @BretHedican / Twitter.com

With the Bruins, Chara takes home one of the highest salaries as well, making $7 million a year. He is a defenseman, wearing the number 33. Chara isn’t just the NHL’s tallest player, he is also the oldest player, an honor passed onto him after Matt Cullen of the Penguins retired.

In addition to his hockey career, Chara is also a polyglot, which means he speaks seven languages. Aside from Slovak, he speaks English, German, Russian, Swedish, Polish, and Czech. He also has his license to sell real estate in Massachusetts. Perhaps, after retirement, we’ll see Chara selling houses on HGTV! 

Sport: Kickboxing, MMA, Ssireum
Height/Weight: 7’3”/253 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $100,000*

Born in South Korea, Choi Hong-man is nicknamed “Korean Monster,” “Che Man,” Korean Colossus,” and “Techo Goliath.” He stands 7’3” and weighs 353 pounds. He is a kickboxer and MMA fighter. Previously, he was a ssireum wrestler (ssireum wrestling is Korea’s national sport, dating back to the fourth century).

Choi Hong-man @PhilipPhiliposs / Twitter.com

The average height of a Korean man is 5’9”, putting Hong-man well over the national average. The kickboxer won the 2005 K1 Seoul Grand Prix after he defeated Kaoklai Kaennorsing in the final round. This solidified his status as the “Korean Colossus.” He wears a shoe size 370 in Korea. 

It’s unlikely that we’ll see Hong-man join the WWE, but he is, in addition to being a kickboxer and MMA athlete, a former ssireum wrestler. Ssireum wrestling is a folk style of wrestling that has become a national Korean sport. His career in wrestling was so short that not much is known of it.

Sport: Football, Wrestling, Kickboxing, MMA
Height/Weight: 6’5”/350 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $3 million*

Bob Sapp is a pro-wrestler and actor. He also played in the NFL. He is best known for his time spent as a kickboxer and MMA fighter, and he still fights in those organizations over in Japan, where he is signed to the Rizin Fighting Federation. He has a record of 24-39-1.

Bob Sapp @Stipe__Tapped / Twitter.com

The Colorado Springs native is 6’5” and weighs in at 350 pounds. he has an 82-inch reach. Sapp has earned a sizeable portion of his income from appearances in movies like Paramount Pictures’ The Longest Yard, Blood and Bone, Big Stan, Conan the Barbarian, Elektra, and more. He was even nominated for a Teen Choice Award for Best Breakout TV Star.  

Nicknamed “The Beast,” his association with Rizin has made him quite the star in Japan. He might be even more famous in Japan than he is in America. Sapp has appeared in commercials, TV shows, and other media in Japan, even releasing his own Sapp Time CD. In addition to Rizin, his other current day job is working occasionally for Stateside MMA promotions. 

Sport: Football
Height/Weight: 7’/310 lbs.
Est Net Worth: $8 million*

Richard Sligh grew up in the South, and he played football in high school and at North Carolina Central. He was on the Dean’s List there for his high academic scores. 

Richard Sligh @NCCUAthletics / Twitter.com

Though we’d never get to see Richard Sligh on the cover of any Nike or Adidas ads, he still has made an impact in the AFL.  Richard Sligh was one of the tallest people to ever play in the NFL. The football player was born in 1944 in South Carolina, and he stood seven feet tall exactly. He played defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders. 

He was drafted in the tenth round of the NFL draft at the 253rd pick overall in 1967. Richard Sligh only played eight games in the NFL. He was drafted into the Bengals in 1968, but he was waived before the season began. The next-tallest-ever players in the NFL after Sligh are Morris Stroud (6’10”) and Dan Skipper (6’9”).