Robert Bobroczkyi, (born 17 July 2000) alternatively anglicized as Robert Bobroczky and originally Róbert Bobróczky in Hungarian, is an ethnic Hungarian former

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player from Romania. Standing , he has drawn attention for his exceptional height. After moving to the United States in 2016 and attending high school in

Geneva, Ohio Geneva is a city in northwestern Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,924 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area, northeast of Cleveland. The area which would become Geneva was originally se ...

, he attended and played for Rochester Christian University in

Rochester Hills, Michigan Rochester Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Rochester Hills is located about north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a popul ...

, through the 2021–2023 season.

Early life

Bobróczky was born in

Arad, Romania Arad () is the capital city of Arad County, at the edge of Crișana and Banat. No villages are administered by the city. It is the third largest city in Western Romania, behind Timișoara and Oradea, and the List of cities and towns in Romania, 1 ...

, the son of tall Hungarian-born Romanian international basketball player Zsigmond Bobróczky (who competed alongside

Gheorghe Mureșan Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (; born 14 February 1971), known as ''the Giant'' () is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player. At , he is one of the two tallest players to have played in the NBA. Early life Mureșan was born in T ...

) and Brunhilde, a former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player. At age eight he was taller than his mother, at tall, and by the age of 12 he reached a height of , surpassing his father. As such, he was taller than

Robert Wadlow Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man. He is the list of tallest people, tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. ...

was from the ages 8 to 13 years. He has been the subject of medical studies nearly his entire life, leading to the prevailing opinion that his height is a result of healthy genetics (i.e. familial or constitutional tall stature), not a hormonal disease or

overgrowth syndrome Overgrowth syndromes in children constitute a group of rare disorders that are characterised by tissue hypertrophy. Individual overgrowth syndromes have been shown to overlap with regard to clinical and radiologic features. The details of the gene ...

. Bobróczky weighed just at the time of his high school basketball debut in January 2017, and with a height of , he was considered underweight, with a

body mass index Body mass index (BMI) is a value derived from the mass (Mass versus weight, weight) and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the human body weight, body mass divided by the square (algebra), square of the human height, body height, and is ...

(BMI) of 16.1.

Career

Youth

In 2014, Bobróczky was recruited by A.S. Stella Azzurra, an amateur-level basketball club based in Italy that produced

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

Andrea Bargnani Andrea Bargnani (; born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player. The power forward- center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draf ...

. A scouting report on him noted that Bobróczky possessed an improved midrange jumper and passing ability, and his physical attributes made him an obvious mismatch against any of his opponents. Like most players of his stature however, Bobróczky was limited by his lack of muscle mass, endurance, and mobility on the court. His tremendously awkward gait and threat of exhaustion forced Bobróczky to play limited minutes after helping the team win its under-15 championship title. Despite his limitations, Bobróczky became an internet sensation in early 2016, as videos surfaced of him dominating much shorter competition during a game with Stella Azzurra.

High school

In 2016, Bobróczky moved to

, in the United States to attend the

college-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or p ...

SPIRE Institute and Academy. Entering his freshman season, Bobróczky was put on a minutes restriction as he attempted to bulk up his physique for a transition into faster, more physical American basketball. On 14 January 2017, Bobróczky made his debut for SPIRE Institute. he was attending the nearby

Grand River Academy Grand River Academy, formerly known as the Ashtabula County Institute of Science and Industry and then the Grand River Institute, is an independent, nonsectarian, boarding high school for boys located in Austinburg, Ohio. It serves students in gra ...

. In July 2020, Bobróczky committed to Rochester Christian University, which spelled his surname as "Bobroczkyi" on their roster.

College

He returned to Romania shortly after classes began due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in fall 2020 but returned in fall 2021, again with the spelling "Bobroczkyi" on the Rochester Christian University JV roster.

Personal life

As a high school senior, Bobróczky wore US size 17 shoes and had a

inseam In sewing, a seam is the join where two or more layers of fabric, leather, or other materials are held together with stitches. Prior to the invention of the sewing machine, all sewing was done by hand. Seams in modern mass-produced household te ...

. Bobróczky speaks Romanian, Hungarian, English, Serbian, and Italian. In 2024, Bobróczky made his acting debut as a Human-

Xenomorph The xenomorph (also known as a Xenomorph XX121, ''Internecivus raptus'', ''Plagiarus praepotens'', or simply the alien or the creature)Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report is a fictional parasitoid, endoparasitoid Extraterrestrials in fiction, extra ...

mutant (credited as "Offspring") in the sci-fi horror film '' Alien: Romulus'', directed by

Fede Álvarez Federico Javier Álvarez Mattos (; born February 9, 1978) is a Uruguayan filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films ''Evil Dead (2013 film), Evil Dead'' (2013), ''Don't Breathe'' (2016), and ''Alien: Romulus'' (2024). Early life Álvare ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bobroczky, Robert 2000 births Living people Romanian men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Romanian sportspeople of Hungarian descent Sportspeople from Arad, Romania 21st-century Romanian sportsmen