A Detroit man's 11,578-pound rubber band ball, 11 years in the making, is now the world's largest
Guinness's record page tells the backstory: it started as a way to pass time at hemophilia appointments.
Claude P. Moore of Detroit holds the Guinness World Records title for the largest rubber band ball: 5,251.69 kg (11,578 lb), measured at Belle Isle in Detroit on Aug. 29, 2026, according to Guinness. UPI reported the record this week. It beats Florida man Joel Waul's 9,032-pound ball from 2008.
Guinness says Moore spent much of his childhood in and out of hospitals being treated for hemophilia, and making rubber band balls passed the time between appointments; in middle school he made one "as big as a chair" before a classmate stole it. In 2015 coworkers challenged him to build a massive one. It outgrew his garage and moved to a storage unit, and in August dozens of helpers rolled it out and a crane lifted it for the trip to Belle Isle, UPI reports. Moore told Guinness the record is a first step toward a bigger goal: ending world hunger.