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

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player. 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 Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The area which would become Geneva was originally settled in 1805, and was incorporated as a city in 1958. It is named after Geneva, New York, Geneva, New York (state), New York. The pop ...

, he attended and played for

Rochester University Rochester University (formerly Rochester College) is a private Christian college in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was founded by members of the Churches of Christ in 1959. Rochester University is primarily undergraduate (though it offers some ...

Rochester Hills, Michigan Rochester Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 76,300. It is the 14th-largest city in Michigan. The area was first occupied by settlers of European descent in 1 ...

, through the 2021–2022 season.

Early life

Bobróczky was born in

Arad, Romania Arad (; German and Hungarian: ''Arad,'' ) is the capital city of Arad County, Transylvania. It is the third largest city in Western Romania, behind Timișoara and Oradea, and the 12th largest in Romania, with a population of 159,704. A busy tr ...

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

Gheorghe Mureșan Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (; born 14 February 1971), also known as "Ghiță" (), is a Romanian former professional basketball player. At , he is tied with Manute Bol for the tallest player ever to have played in the NBA. Early life Mureșan was ...

,) 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 or Olympic 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 throwing it into the g ...

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 who was the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. He was born and raise ...

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 (weight) and height of a person. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height, and is expressed in units of kg/m2, resulting from mass in kilograms and he ...

(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. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

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. When on Of ...

Andrea Bargnani Andrea Bargnani (; born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player. The 7 ft 0 in (213 cm) power forward-center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first ...

. 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 (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

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 a private, nonsectarian, boarding high school for young men located in Austinburg, Ohio. It serves students in gr ...

. In July 2020, Bobróczky committed to

, 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in fall 2020 but returned in fall 2021, again with the spelling "Bobroczkyi" on the

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.

References

{{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