Clifford Marshall Thompson, known as the “World’s Tallest Lawyer” at 8-feet, 7-inches, lived in Iola, where he practiced law from a front office in the building now serving as the Crystal Café’s “Family Room.” Born in Silva, outside Rugby, North Dakota, on October 18, 1904, he moved with his family to rural Scandinavia in 1911, attended primary school in Iola and secondary school at the Scandinavia Academy, and graduated from the Central Wisconsin Teachers College in 1926. In his late 20s he became one of America’s best-known circus giants, appearing as “The Scandinavian Giant,” “The Wisconsin Paul Bunyan,” and “Count Olaf of Norway” with the Rubin and Cherry Carnival Company, the Al G. Barnes Circus, The Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus, and the Cole Brothers Clyde Beatty troupes. He also pursued an off-season movie career and was reputedly the tallest person to appear in Hollywood films, with credited roles in more than eight movies, including two Tarzan films. Seeking a more stable life in the late 30s, he settled in Milwaukee and used his size and fame as a product spokesman for Ford dealerships, the Big Shoe Store in Stevens Point, where he wore size 22 shoes, and other businesses. A 1938 Wisconsin State Fairgrounds promotion for the milk industry led to work as a Blatz beer traveling spokesman. He entered Marquette University Law School in 1942 at age 37, graduated in 1944, was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar on July 1, 1944, opened his Iola practice on July 20, closed it in April 1948, then moved to Portland, Oregon, where he passed that state’s bar in April 1950. He died there on October 15, 1955, three days before his 51st birthday, of a combination of gallstones and liver disease. His unusual height was evident early, though he did not reach full growth until age 26 in 1932. After the death of the taller Robert Pershing Wadlow, whose growth continued throughout his life because of a pituitary gland condition, Thompson was again regularly recognized as the “Tallest Man” in America.