Sun Mingming (, born August 23, 1983) is a Chinese former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He was the tallest professional basketball player in the world and was measured by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

as tall and weighing .

Early life

He was born in a small town near

Bayan County Bayan County () is a county of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang. It borders Mulan County to the east, Bin County to the south, Hulan Dis ...

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

Heilongjiang Province Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Ussu ...

, China. He has two siblings: a brother and a sister. He did not begin playing basketball until he was 15 years old.

College career

Sun attended and played basketball at

Ventura College Ventura College is a Public college, public community college in Ventura, California. Established in 1925, the college has a campus with an enrollment of 13,763 students. It is part of the Ventura County Community College District. History ...

, a community college in

Ventura, CA Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city in and the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States. It is a coastal city located northwest of Los Angeles. The population was 110,763 at the ...

. He played basketball there for only the 2005–2006 season, before moving on to play professional basketball.

Basketball career

United States

Sun played with several American minor league teams, including the

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

team Dodge City Legend, the

ABA ABA may refer to: Aviation * AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline * IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, Uni ...

team

Maryland Nighthawks The Washington GreenHawks were a team of the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League (ACPBL) based in Washington, D.C. As the Maryland Nighthawks they were formerly part of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and a founding member of ...

, and the IBL team

Grand Rapids Flight The Grand Rapids Flight were a team in the International Basketball League based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Flight underwent an office change in 2007 when David Fox took over the roles of general manager and head coach from founder Tyler Whit ...

. He was also drafted by the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

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 The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

with

Fuerza Regia The Fuerza Regia de Monterrey (''Monterrey Royal Force'' in English) is a Mexican professional basketball team based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico playing in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). They currently play their home g ...

and in Japan's

bj league The was a professional basketball league in Japan that began in November 2005 as a six-team league. The league was operated as a competitor to the established Japan Super League which was run by the Japan Basketball Association, the official ...

with Hamamatsu Phoenix.

Return to China

In 2009, he returned to China to play for the

Beijing Ducks The Beijing Shougang Ducks (''simplified Chinese'': 北京首钢霹雳鸭俱乐部篮球队), also known as Beijing Shougang or Beijing Ducks, are a professional basketball team based in Beijing, China, which plays in the North Division of th ...

in the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

(CBA).

Personal life

In the summer of 2005, Sun discovered that he had a benign

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

attached to his

pituitary gland The pituitary gland or hypophysis is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, the pituitary gland is located at the base of the human brain, brain, protruding off the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus contr ...

. Because he had neither

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

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. The tumor was successfully removed on September 26, 2005. On 4 August 2013, he married Xu Yan, who is tall. They are recognized by

as the tallest living married couple with their combined height of .

Filmography

Film

TV series

References

External links

*
An article about him
in

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Mingming 1983 births 21st-century Chinese male actors Basketball players from Harbin Beijing Ducks players Centers (basketball) Chinese expatriate basketball people in the United States Chinese expatriate basketball people in Japan Chinese expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chinese male film actors Chinese male television actors Chinese men's basketball players Expatriate basketball people in Mexico Fuerza Regia de Monterrey players Living people Male actors from Harbin Male actors from Heilongjiang People with acromegaly People with gigantism San-en NeoPhoenix players