Great Balls of...
RECORDMANIA
LARGEST
ANCIENT
STONE BALLS
There are more than
1,000 perfectly
spherical granitic
globes scattered
widely over the Diquis
Delta of Costa Rica.
Known locally as
Las Bolas Grandes
(“The Giant Balls”),
they were carved
from naturally
spherical masses of
granite by an as-yet-
unidentified race
of pre-Colombian
people. The largest
ones reach 2.5 m
(8 ft 2 in) in diameter
and weigh more than
16 tonnes (35,270 lb).
Paper, string, cling film, paint, dog hair, popcorn and more! We present
a selection of extraordinary record-breaking spheres from the GWR archive.
String ball
Bound by J C Payne of Valley View, Texas, USA,
between 1989 and 1992, the largest ball of string
measured 4.03 m (13 ft 2.6 in) in diameter.
MISCELLANEOUS
Fastest tennis ball caught
Anthony Kelly (AUS) grasped a tennis ball
travelling at 119.86 mph (192.9 km/h) in Sydney,
New South Wales, Australia, on 12 Nov 2015.
Most tennis balls caught in one hour
On 21 Jul 2015, Ashrita Furman (USA) caught
1,307 tennis balls in 60 min in New York City,
USA. Each ball he caught was travelling at a
minimum of 100 km/h (62 mph).
Fastest ping pong ball
Father and son David and Abraham Knierim
(both USA) fired a ping pong ball from a vacuum
launcher at 806 m/sec (2,644 ft/sec) – more
than twice the speed of sound – in Wilsonville,
Oregon, USA, on 24 May 2016.
Highest catch of a cricket ball
For Sky Sports Cricket, former England captain
Nasser Hussain (UK, b. IND) caught a cricket ball
dropped by a “Batcam” drone from 46 m (150 ft
11 in) – the equivalent of 14 storeys – at Lord’s
Cricket Ground in London, UK, on 30 Jun 2016.
Highest-altitude for a soccer ball
to be dropped and controlled
Theo Walcott (UK) controlled a ball dropped from
a height of 34 m (111 ft 6 in) at the Arsenal FC
training ground in St Albans, UK, on 29 Nov 2016.
The attempt was sponsored by Betfair (UK).
Most golf balls stacked
Don Athey of Bridgeport, Ohio, USA, stacked
nine golf balls vertically – without adhesives –
on 4 Oct 1998. They remained in place for 20 sec.
Largest pyramid of balls
In all, 16,206 golf balls formed the pyramid
made by Cal Shipman and The First Tee of
Greater Tyler (both USA) and presented at
Mamie G Griffin Elementary School in Tyler,
Texas, USA, on 31 Jan 2014.
LARGEST...
Cling-film ball
Hessle Road Network Young People’s Centre
(UK) put together a 470 - lb (213.2-kg) ball of
cling film – around half the weight of a grand
piano. The record was confirmed in Hull, UK,
on 14 Nov 2013.
Dog hair ball
On 7 Apr 2012, Texas Hearing and Service Dogs
(USA) presented a 201-lb (91.17-kg) lump of
dog hair – three times heavier than a Dalmatian.
It incorporated the hair of 8,126 dogs, acquired
by grooming, and was weighed in Austin,
Tex a s , US A.
Inflatable beach ball
Polish supermarket chain Real created an
inflatable beach ball with a diameter of 15.82 m
(51 ft 10 in), which was presented and measured
in Człuchów, Poland, on 8 May 2012.
Magnetic-tape ball
EMC Corporation (UK) made a ball of magnetic
tape weighing 570 kg (1,256 lb), and measuring
2.125 m (6 ft 11 in) wide by 2.030 m (6 ft 8 in)
tall. It was displayed at the Kings Place gallery
in London, UK, on 19 Jan 2011, and comprised
6,500 tapes. Placed end to end, they would have
reached from London to New York City, USA.
Matzah ball
Noah’s Ark Original Deli (USA) cooked up a
267-lb (121.1-kg) matzah ball (an unleavened
dumpling), as weighed in New York City,
USA, on 6 Aug 2009.
Paper ball
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
(USA) made a 426-lb (193.2-kg), 10-ft
3-in-wide (3.13-m) ball of recycled
paper, as measured on 5 Aug 2014.
Popcorn ball
Workers at The Popcorn Factory in
Lake Forest, Illinois, USA, created a
ball of popcorn weighing 3,423 lb
(1,552.6 kg) on 29 Sep 2006.
Rose-quartz ball
Yang Chin-Lung (TPE) owns a ball
of rose quartz with a diameter
of 145.6 cm (4 ft 9 in),
as certified in Tainan,
Chinese Taipei,
on 31 Mar 2015.
LARGEST TAPE BALL
Weighing 2,000 lb (907.18 kg), and with a circumference of 12 ft
9 in (3.89 m), this huge ball of tape was completed in Louisville,
Kentucky, USA, on 6 May 2011. The record attempt was
organized by the Portland Promise Center (USA), a community-
development group, and the ball was assembled by children
who attend programmes run by the centre. The tapes used
included duct tape, electrical tape, masking tape, gaffer tape,
packing tape, foil tape and athletic tape.
It took a
whole year to
create this super-
sized tape ball. That’s
not surprising when you
consider that it includes
some 73.2^ mi (117.8
km)
of^ tape – around the
same length as
Hadrian’s Wall
in^ the UK!
A: 54,250
Most balls juggled
(multiplex technique):
i.e., more than one ball
thrown at a time:
14
Aleksandr Koblikov
(UKR), 2013
Most balls
bounce-juggled:
12
Alan Sulc (CZE), 2008
Most balls juggled
(traditional):
11
Alex Barron (UK), 2012
Most ping-pong balls
juggled by mouth:
7
Tony Fercos (USA, b. CZE),
mid-1980s
Most soccer balls juggled:
5
Victor Rubilar (ARG), 2006;
equalled by
Marko Vermeer (NLD), 2014
Isidro Silveira (ESP), 2015
Most bowling balls juggled:
3
Milan Roskopf (SVK), 2011
Q: How many tennis
balls were used during
the 2016 Wimbledon
Championships?