Steven Purugganan

Sport stacking career

Purugganan and his two brothers, Andrew and Brian, began sport stacking in 2006 after watching the 2006 WSSA World Sport Stacking Championships on ESPN. He was intrigued by the sport, and his mother bought him a set of cups. He would practice for at least an hour every day.

Between 2008 and 2010, Purugganan claimed three consecutive overall world championships and broke several world records.

At the 2010 World Sport Stacking Championship held in Denver, Colorado, he successfully defended his world champion title. He is the only stacker to reset the cycle world record eight times (7.23 – 6.65 – 6.52 – 6.50 – 6.33 – 6.21 – 6.18 – 5.93) until the current world record which is set by him and tied by his fellow Team USA friend, Mason Langenderfer, which was 5.93 seconds in the premier Cycle event. He has also set 21 other world records in the other four events, another unmatched achievement. Then Purugganan teamed up with three Team USA teammates Luke Myers, Lawrence Maceren, and John Harden in the Timed 3–6–3 Relay turning in a record of 12.41 seconds. Back in 2009, he held the distinction of simultaneously holding all five world records in sport stacking —all three individual events (3–3–3, 3–6–3, and the Cycle), doubles, and the timed 3–6–3 team relay during the period 2008–2009. Steven Purugganan and his brother Andrew are the former world record holders in doubles.

His current world records as of the 2011 World Sport Stacking Championships in Texas, USA, are his 5.93 Cycle World record (also tied by Mason Langenderfer) and the Timed 3–6–3 Relay under the relay team "Winning" consisting Mason Langenderfer, Steven Purugganan, Chase Werfel and Luke Myers in a time of 14.44. This relay record is the fastest set in the new relay rules made on the month of March 2011. His former world record in doubles is with his brother Andrew set on 7.58 on 2009. His former world record in the 3–3–3 was his 1.80 when it was tied by Lawrence Maceren and later beaten in the 2010 WSSC. His former world record in the 3–6–3 was a 2.15. The cycle world record before the current 5.93 is a 6.21 stacked by Purugganan on the Stack of Champions during the 2008 Championships, although a 6.18 was stacked before the 5.93 but its fate was not known due to the yellow card displayed on it and was never fully reviewed by officials. And the former 3–6–3 relay world record held by Purugganan and the Team USA during the period of the tapping/hand-tag/old rules period was a 12.15 (consisting Lawrence Maceren, Zhewei Wu, Mason Langenderfer and Purugganan) which was beaten weeks back by Team Germany 12.09 which was also later removed due to the new relay rules during March 2011.

On February 15, 2014, Steven Purugganan teamed up with Zhewei Wu, William Polly, Zachary Weisel, and Chandler Miller to set the World Record in the Timed 3-6-3 Relay with a time of 13.176 seconds at the Delaware State Sport Stacking Championships in Middletown, Delaware, making that his 30th overall world record.

Steven Purugganan and his brothers Brian and Andrew have been in promotional events for sport stacking in the U.S., Brazil, Italy, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Singapore.

He currently attends Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York and is on the school's cross country team, along with his brother Brian, coached by Christopher Dossena.

Starting in the Fall of 2015, Steven Purugganan will be attending UConn.

Media appearances

Purugganan has been featured in Extreme Makeover Home Edition in May 2011, The Guinness World Record Show in Rome, Italy, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2010, and National Geographic Channel's 'NATGEO Amazing' on September 10, 2010. He has also been involved with ESPN Magazine as a member of the 'Advice Squad', athletes who provide 'advice' to questions from readers or subscribers of the magazine, as part of the magazine's featured articles in 2010.

Purugganan was featured in a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal, a one-page article in Time magazine titled "Stacktacular" and one in ESPN The Magazine titled "How to Pile the Plastic". He was also involved in a promotional advertisement for version 3.5 of the Firefox web browser, and a McDonald's commercial.