John William “Willie” “Bud” Rogan: A history of the world’s tallest people

Between July 1899 and 11 September 1905 John William "Willie" Rogan, a Black man from Gallatin, Tennessee, USA, was the tallest man in the world. Standing 267 cm (8 ft 9 in) tall, Willie Rogan remains the second-tallest person in recorded history, after Robert Wadlow.

Willie, who was commonly known as “Bud”, was born on 12 February 1867 in Sumner County, Tennessee, as the fourth of 12 children raised by William and Truelove Rogan. Both his parents were formerly enslaved people who owned a farm between the towns of Hendersonville and Gallatin (today's suburbs of Nashville).

Willie was described as being slightly larger than average in terms of height and build, but not exceptional. Truelove was of normal proportions but physically disabled, having lost the use of her legs in childhood due to complications from tuberculosis.

Childhood and growth

By his own account, Willie's growth was unremarkable until the age of 13, when he began experiencing unbearable pain in his joints, which was accompanied by migraines.

After a time this pain became so severe that he was bed-bound, and remained so for around two years. During this period of confinement, Willie became aware of his rapid growth, particularly the elongation of his limbs and the fast increasing size of his hands and feet.

This period of painful growth subsided when he was around 15 or 16, after which time Willie became physically active again. Whatever had caused this remarkable change, however, had also caused him to lose significant muscle mass, particularly in his arms and legs.

For the purposes of this feature, we’ve depicted him standing, but this is a bit of artistic licence on our part. In reality, by the time he was in his late teens his limbs were no longer strong enough to support his weight. For a time Willie walked with sticks, but this became increasingly painful and unsteady as he got older. Unwilling to rely on others to get around, he travelled in a goat-drawn cart of his own design for most of his adult life.

A picture of Willie from William Lackey’s 1899 medical case report

The Tennessee Giant

Willie could not, of course, work on the family farm with his siblings, so he took to acting as a sort of novelty porter at Gallatin train station. He fitted his cart with a small luggage rack, and would convey people's bags and other belongings to nearby hotels.

It is often said that he made a living selling pictures of himself, but this is not true. The story is the result of a mix-up between Willie and a caricaturist by the name of Sumner Fauley, who made a wildly inaccurate illustration of Willie which he later sold copies of.

Unsurprisingly, the giant and his goat-drawn cart quickly became something of a local celebrity. Willie was an articulate, likeable man with a voice that was described as "strong and deep", and with a "peculiar, indescribable quality". Travellers who disembarked at Gallatin would marvel at his size and ask him about his life as he and his goats made the trip from the station to the hotel.

It is during this period that he likely acquired the nickname by which he is most commonly known today, “Bud” Rogan. This was probably a name only used by white travellers, however. At the time, black men in service roles were often given condescending or over-familiar nicknames, or else simply referred to as "boy". Census records suggest that his own family knew him as "Willie", so that's what we're calling him here.

It's worth noting that there are many pictures circulating online that claim to show Willie standing upright, but these are misidentifications. Most actually show Gabriel Estevao Monjane, a Mozambican giant who was the world's tallest man from 1982 to 1990, and who had a long circus career that began in the 1960s. 

Rejecting the circus

Willie frequently received offers from travelling showmen, who wanted to take him on the road as a freakshow attraction. The only time that he consented to public exhibition was a brief stint at the 1897 Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition. He only said yes then because it was held in nearby Nashville and he could return home whenever he wished. He disliked the experience and refused all subsequent offers.

Although his means were limited, Willie was supported and cared for by members of the close-knit African-American community around Gallatin. The core of this community was the roughly 70 people who were formerly enslaved on the Rogan family plantation north-east of the town. As a consequence most had the surname Rogan, even though they were not necessarily biologically related. This community were not sharecroppers, but owned their own land and seem to have been fairly prosperous, establishing churches and investing in their property.

A picture of John Rogan's hand from William Lackey’s 1899 medical case report

Rogan’s measurements

In 1899, when Willie was in his late 20s, a white medical student called William Lackey managed to get his permission to perform a medical examination. (Willie and his family were understandably wary of doctors, who like the showmen typically saw him as nothing more than a curiosity). Lackey wrote up a detailed case report about "B.R.", which looked at his family, his personal medical history and included detailed measurements of Willie's body.

These measurements, from which Lackey calculated Willie would have had a standing height of 259 cm (8 ft 6 in), were double-checked and independently recalculated by an eminent local surgeon, Dr Duncan Eve of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

Bud’s hands were 12 inches (30.48 cm) long – larger than those of the current tallest man Sultan Kösen. Despite their enormous size and distorted appearance, Lackey reported that Willie was surprisingly dexterous and skilled with his hands. He made the cart that he travelled in, and even did the leatherworking on the harnesses and reins.

John Rogan on his goat cart in a picture taken by C C Horn

Later life

Although at the time of Dr Lackey's examination, Willie was described as being in generally good health, the years of uncontrolled growth took a toll. He died on 12 September 1905 in Gallatin, Tennessee. Lackey, who was by then the town's doctor and medical examiner, estimated that by the time of Willie's death, he may have been as much as 267 cm (8 ft 9 in) tall. He did not make a detailed examination, however, and Willie's family were eager to bury him before other anatomists started to show up.

Bud is thought to have been buried in a concrete tomb, just like the tallest man ever Robert Wadlow would later be, in order to deter any grave robbers. Although the location is unknown – and will likely remain that way forever – Bud’s final resting place is believed to be an unmarked spot in the vicinity of the old Rogan plantation, likely near one of the churches established by his community.