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A Andre the Giant­ 1946–1993 Many a hyperbolic name has been applied to colorful characters in professional wrestling, but the application of “­Giant” to Andre the ­ Giant’s name was no exag- geration. Of all the behemoths with nicknames implying humongous size, Andre Rene Rousimoff, the French-­born grappler, is prob­ably the most worthy. Listed as being seven feet, four inches tall, Andre’s weight, which fluctuated between 400-­ plus pounds and an occasional announcement of more than 500 pounds, definitely filled out his frame. Although his parents ­ were not outrageously sized, he had a grand­father who stood more than seven feet tall. One of the true legends of the game, Andre the ­Giant’s memory lives on 25 years ­ after his death in 1993 at age 46. Fans absolutely loved Andre the ­ Giant. Most of his fellow wrestlers liked him, too, although if Andre ­ didn’t like them, he let it be known, sometimes in a harsh way by belting an opposing wrestler a ­ little bit harder with a forearm or throwing him to the canvas with a ­ little more oomph. You ­didn’t mess with the Giant.­ Even in an age when professional football and basketball players have grown ever larger, it is difficult to image the all-­ around size Andre the ­ Giant presented. A famous Sports Illustrated story about his life included a photo­graph of one hand with a beer can nestled in it. The hand dwarfed the can. By all definitions and in all ways, Andre the ­Giant was a big dude. One of his favorite comments was say- ing it ­wasn’t his fault he was bigger and stronger than anyone ­ else since he ­ didn’t even exercise. Born in Grenoble, France on a farm, Andre originally played a bit of soccer. As a teenager he dropped out of school and worked as a laborer. He was born with gigan- tism and was afflicted with acromegaly, which caused his pituitary gland to produce an overabundance of growth hormones so he grew very fast, very young. He began wrestling ­ after moving to Paris and became proficient in the basics of the sport, leading to swift popularity over a larger geographic area. It did not take long for Andre the ­ Giant to also become well known in ­ Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, Africa, and Japan. Then he gained a reputation in the United States where professional wrestling was approaching a peak period of attention. In Japan, the wrestler was billed as “Monster Rousimoff.” He was called the largest athlete in the world, and it was true. For a time, Andre the ­ Giant ran into a prob­lem. He was too good for his opponents. Nobody could budge him off his feet and matches all became one-­sided.