A Minnesota teacher with a passion for gardening has broken the world record for the heaviest pumpkin ever grown, naming the giant 2,749-pound pumpkin after the basketball legend.
Travis Gienger, who teaches landscape and horticulture at Anoka Technical College, grew giant pumpkins in his backyard and brought them to the 50th in Half Moon Bay, Calif. at the World Pumpkin Weighing Championships. His pumpkin was 47 pounds heavier than the record held by Italian Stefano Cutrupi from 2021.
“This pumpkin is called Michael Jordan because it’s (20)23… and he’s the greatest basketball player of all time,” Ginger told Minnesota’s KSTP-TV. He said he noticed the pumpkin was “basketball round” when it started growing and thought it would be “a perfectly round basketball-shaped pumpkin.”
Michael Jordan turned out to be a giant, bumpy orange pumpkin, equivalent to about 2,110 basketballs, or about 275 regular pumpkins.
For comparison, NBA legend Jordan weighed 216 pounds during his NBA career. According to SFGate, Ginger spent about $15,000 feeding and caring for Michael Jordan as the pumpkin grew in size, and he carefully drove it from Minnesota to California last weekend.
The 43-year-old has been following a family tradition of growing pumpkins since he was a teenager.
He has won three of the past four pumpkin weigh-ins. This year, he received a $30,000 prize and a ring reminiscent of a Super Bowl championship ring made by a local jeweler. He revealed to SFGate that he plans to use the winnings to grow bigger pumpkins next year.
“I put in the work to put a smile on people’s faces, and it’s great to be here and see everyone in this town,” he said.
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Many of Ginger’s competitors in Monday’s race come from the neighboring Napa and Sonoma areas. Minnesota’s relatively cold weather can be a challenge for growing pumpkins, with spring temperatures ranging from very hot to very cold.
Second place winner Nick Kennedy told local news outlets that he would participate even without any prize money.
“It has to be a labor of love,” he told ABC 7.
“Watching these things grow – this thing was growing 66 pounds a day at its peak, so it was basically like watching a balloon explode in front of you.”
Three of the heaviest pumpkins will be on display in Half Moon Bay next weekend so visitors can take photos with the giant gourds
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