Big shoe to fill: Historic shoe has home in Blytheville

They say you should never judge a person until you've had a chance to walk in their shoes.

Well, Burge's Shoe Store in Blytheville is giving customers and passersby a chance to at least look at another man's shoes.

This is no ordinary shoe. On the desk next to the cash register in the shoe store sits the size 37 shoe of the late Robert Wadlow. According to Guinness Book of Word Records, Wadlow was the tallest man to ever live. He stood 8-foot-11 inches when he died at the tender age of 22 in 1940. Wadlow's height was attributed to an overactive pituitary gland.

The shoe came to the Burge family through a man by the name of Don Heuer of Batesville. Heuer owned a shoe store in Blytheville until 1964 when Neil Burge, originally of Batesville, bought the store from him on Jan. 1, 1965.

Wadlow, born and raised in Alton, Ill., worked for The International Shoe Company through which he and his father made the connection with Heuer. Heuer received a pair of Wadlow's shoes as a gift at the time of his death and recently gave one shoe to the Burge family.

"This isn't a replica," said Kenny Burge. "I think a lot of people have seen the shoe at the Ripley's museum in Branson. That's a replica. We have the real thing here in Blytheville."

Burge said he hopes the shoe, which has become a great conversation piece among customers in his store, will again show the roots and history of Blytheville.

"There's a lot that people don't know about Blytheville," he said. "This town has a lot of history, and this is just one more piece of it connected with Blytheville."

afitzpatrick@blythevillecourier.com