When a baby weighs between 4 and 5 kilograms at birth, doctors already classify it as a large newborn. But what happened at Community Memorial Hospital in New Jersey in 1983 was in a category of its own.

Patricia Clarke was 24 years old when she went into labor. She already knew from experience that her family tended toward big babies — she’d had one before. Even so, nothing could have prepared her for what came next.

Her son Kevin Robert Clark arrived weighing over 15 pounds — nearly double what a “large” newborn is typically expected to weigh. He was the biggest baby ever born at that hospital, and quite possibly the largest in all of New Jersey at that time. Despite the extraordinary size, Kevin was completely healthy, which came as an enormous relief to his parents — even if standard cribs and newborn clothing were immediately useless.

The story spread fast. Kevin appeared on Saturday Night Live and Good Morning America, becoming a minor celebrity before he could even walk. His size continued to define his early years — by the time he was 12, he already stood 6 feet tall. By college, he had reached 5 feet 11 inches and was still growing.

“Not a day goes by without someone asking me how tall I am,” Kevin later told the New York Post — a quote that captures perfectly what life has looked like for him ever since that headline-making arrival.

From a record-breaking newborn to a towering adult — Kevin’s story is one that quite literally started big and never stopped. 👶📏