It says the average height for all American males is 5-9.2 and Shawn isn't much shorter than that. 
Average height literally means somewhere in the middle between tall and short therefore if you are taller than average, you are tall and if you are shorter than average you are short. 5"9.2' would be right in the middle. However if you're a midget under 4"11' then yes shawn would tower of you and you could say.... damn Shawn's not that short at all, screw that... he's damn tall. LOL...