This teen has crammed some fairly massive footwear.
Eric Kilburn Jr. — a 16-year-old soccer participant at Goodrich Excessive Faculty in Michigan — has formally set not one however two Guinness World Data.
The 6-foot-10 teen has each the biggest ft and the biggest palms of a dwelling teenager.
His ft measure 13½ inches, making him a surprising dimension 23 in males’s footwear, which is drastically bigger than the standard vary of 8½ to 9 for a male.
In the meantime, his palms cowl 9.13 inches — a lot bigger than the typical 7.4 inches for these his age.
“Persons are normally amazed and really feel comfy beginning conversations with me concerning the dimension of my ft and palms,” he instructed Guinness. “I meet a lot of attention-grabbing folks this fashion.”
Kilburn has been a lot greater than his classmates since kindergarten and hasn’t been in a position to buy new footwear in a retailer since he was within the fifth grade.
He solely observed his uniqueness when his dimension started to trigger issues with on a regular basis life. Customized footwear — which docs warned would value the household greater than $1,500 — would have put a monetary pressure on his household.
As an alternative, Kilburn opted to put on Crocs for 2 years straight, together with snowy climate situations in Michigan, and developed painful calluses, blisters and ingrown toenails.
He additionally needed to watch his soccer crew from the sidelines as a consequence of a excessive ankle sprain from not having cleats.
Thankfully, as the teenager’s story unfold, a number of shoemakers — together with Underneath Armour and Reebok, with the assistance of NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal — stepped as much as present the excessive schooler with a number of pairs of footwear that match him.
“It was fairly cool to see how many individuals genuinely care about serving to others,” he mentioned.
Seeing others assist him impressed Kilburn Jr. to proceed to unfold positivity via the Large Shoe Community — a nonprofit group based by his mom, centered on serving to people who wrestle to search out garments and footwear of their dimension.
“I wish to assist folks the identical means I used to be helped after I wanted it,” Eric defined.
He additionally hopes to encourage folks to embrace their variations.
“It’s okay to face out. Don’t let negativity distract you out of your objectives,” the positivity-minded teen mentioned.
Though setting two world data earlier than turning 18 wasn’t precisely a purpose of his, the excessive schooler is worked up concerning the recognition.
“Being within the Guinness World Data e-book nonetheless feels surreal,” he admitted. “To have gone from studying the books to being contained in the 2025 e-book is one thing I by no means would have imagined was even potential.
“This expertise is one thing that I’m so grateful for. It actually couldn’t be any higher, in my eyes.”