Five minutes into his speech, President Obama showered a little limelight on a very big man.
"The biggest Obama fan in the country is in the house," the president announced, gesturing toward all 7 feet, 8 inches of Igor Vovkovinskiy, who was standing in the crowd not far from the president's podium.
It was a title eagerly embraced by Vovkovinskiy, who showed up for the rally in a jersey proclaiming himself the "World's Biggest Obama Supporter."
Vovkovinskiy, 26, of Rochester came to the United States from Ukraine as a youngster for treatment at the Mayo Clinic for a pituitary disease that spurred his rapid growth. He also has diabetes.
In an interview moments after Obama left the arena, Vovkovinskiy said he supports the president because of his initiatives on health insurance, "something I can't live without."
He came to the rally accompanied by his mother, Svetlana Vovkovinska, who beamed as her son described his feelings about being singled out by the president.
"I thought he would notice my shirt, but I didn't think he would point at me from the stage," he said.
Obama remembered him from a photo taken during the campaign when Vovkovinskiy posed with the president's wife, Michelle. "She looks like Sasha next to this guy," Obama remarked, referring to their 8-year-old daughter. Vovkovinskiy grinned broadly.
But later, during Obama's speech, he appeared exhausted, and arena workers fetched him a folding chair. "These bright lights, the heat," he explained afterward, wiping sweat from his brow.
He said he's hoping to go to law school. "To be a lawyer in Obama team, that's what Mamma wants," Svetlana added.
PAT DOYLE
