Personal Life
Like André the Giant, Wight used to have acromegaly, a disease of the endocrine system. By the age of twelve, Wight was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall, weighed 220 lb (100 kg), and had chest hair. In 1991, as a member of the Wichita State University basketball team at age nineteen, Wight was listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m). He underwent successful surgery in the early 1990s on his pituitary gland, which halted the progress of this condition. His shoe size is 22 EEEEE, his ring size is 22, and his chest is 64 inches (160 cm) in circumference. Prior to attending Wichita State University, Wight attended Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa, OK, competing on the basketball team. In 2005, Wight leased a bus and hired a bus driver because of the practical problems his size presents to air travel and car rental.
Wight played basketball and football in high school at Wyman King Academy in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. He was a standout center for the basketball team and a tight end for the football team. While at Wichita State University, Wight played basketball. Wight also attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1992 to 1993, was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Cougars basketball team, and is a member of the Xi Beta Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. During his one year at SIUE, Wight scored a total of thirty-nine points for the Cougars in limited action.
Wight married his first wife, Melissa Ann Piavis, on February 14, 1997. They separated in 2000 and their divorce was finalized on February 6, 2002. Together, they have a daughter named Cierra. On February 11, 2002, he married his second wife, Bess Katramados. Together they have two children.
In December 1998, Wight was arrested and detained for allegedly exposing himself to a hotel clerk in Memphis, Tennessee. Wight denied the incident, and was later released due to a lack of evidence.
In March 1999, Wight was charged with assault by Robert Sawyer, who alleged that Wight had broken his jaw during the summer of 1998 in the course of an altercation at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in Uniondale, New York. Wight claimed that Sawyer had verbally abused, threatened, and shoved him, and that he had responded by punching Sawyer. After three days, Judge Thomas Feinman delivered a verdict of not guilty.
Read more about this topic: Big Show
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“In contrast with envy, which usually occurs between two people and is focused upon another person’s qualities or possessions, jealousy occurs when a third person becomes a threat to a dyad. Jealousy involves the loss or the impending loss of a relationship that one wants to hold onto, a relationship that is vital to personal fulfillment and claimed as one’s own.”
—Carol S. Becker (b. 1942)
“The problem is simply this: no one can feel like CEO of his or her life in the presence of the people who toilet trained her and spanked him when he was naughty. We may have become Masters of the Universe, accustomed to giving life and taking it away, casually ordering people into battle or out of their jobs . . . and yet we may still dirty our diapers at the sound of our mommy’s whimper or our daddy’s growl.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)