Shaquille O’Neal Sent Shoes to the Teen Who Set the 2025 Guinness World Record for Having the Largest Hands and Feet
Eric Kilburn, Jr. of Goodrich, Michigan has set the 2025 Guinness World Record for largest hands and feet on a teenager. Standing around six-foot-eleven, the 16-year-old has size 23 feet — meaning it’s difficult to find sneakers in his size at the average American mall. And that’s something basketball star Shaquille O’Neal knows a thing or two about.
Kilburn’s journey to find shoes large enough for his above-average proportions went viral last year after Hometown Life published a story on him — and support poured in from all different directions.
Kilburn told Guinness World Records in a recent interview, “We made hundreds if not thousands of calls asking different shoe corporations or different shoe companies, ‘Can you make a shoe this big?’ A lot of them said, ‘You have to be a collegiate or professional athlete, sorry, we can’t help you.'”
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The high school football player continued, “So we went to the media, and Under Armour and Puma, they offered to help us. And in the meantime, Shaquille O’Neal, he sent me giant Fed Ex boxes full of clothes, shoes, all sorts of stuff that we needed — because he’s a big guy too, so he sent me a lot of clothes that were tall and big, too.”
Kilburn’s mother Rebecca explained how the former NBA star helped out the teenager when he was dealing with the pros and cons of being in the spotlight: “What’s really wonderful is we had Shaquille O’Neal, who became a really great support system for him. He actually reached out to him a few times and asked him ‘How do I deal with this extra attention, the media?’ He actually really spent a lot of time speaking life into him and allowing him to see the positive sides.”
In the interview, Kilburn also takes viewers through his shoe collection, which he revealed is essentially all custom made. Sharing that the average American men’s shoe size is a 10.5, he held up one such cleat alongside one of his custom Under Armour cleats to convey the stark difference. Of course, he also showed off the shoes that were personally gifted by Shaq — including one of his Reebok Shaq Attaq sneakers and a Louis Vuitton boot.
Holding up a pair of yellow Nikes, Kilburn said, “Eighth to ninth grade I was wearing the same pair of shoes, these are size 22s; I started to grow out of them. Shaquille O’Neal reached out and he gave me multiple pairs of shoes, like sporting shoes or luxury boots, all sorts of stuff.”
Being a size 22 himself, O’Neal is certainly sympathetic to the struggle the teen faced in finding shoes that fit. The retired center once spoke to FN about his own experiences growing up with above average sized feet. “My shoe size is 20 but I like to wear a 22 because when I was young we couldn’t afford proper shoes so I had to wear my shoes tight,” he said. “[Now] I always get my shoes too big to make sure I have room.”
Kilburn’s story reminds audiences how basic necessities can sometimes be taken for granted — and underscores not only the practical importance of owning the right shoes but the emotional impact of having options when it comes to fashion.
Eric’s mother Rebecca said, “You wouldn’t think something so insignificant as just having shoes and different kinds of footwear to choose from would be something so impactful. But that’s absolutely what I’m seeing — I’m just seeing his kind of confidence just from being able to walk into school with cool shoes and have his friends and peers [say,] ‘Look at those, those are so cool.’ You see him kind of swell with pride, and that’s something money can’t buy.”
Watch the Kilburn family’s Guinness World Records interview below.
