Yes, 9 feet is large, but in your first post you specified "almost 8 feet." While this is very tall, going by the rules of 3.5, it does not qualify you for large size.
Now, if you're wanting a race, go with Goliaths, from Races of Stone. They're medium creatures who come with Powerful Build automatically. Rest of their info is below.
+4 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Con
Base land speed: 30 feet
Medium
Monstrous Humanoid
Powerful Build: Whenever being a large creature would confer a bonus, goliaths are treated as large. When it would impose a penalty, they are considered medium. This does not affect their reach, but does stack with other abilities that provide similar benefits.
Mountain Movement: Goliaths can make standing long jumps and high jumps as though they were running long or high jumps. In addition, they can engage in accelerated climbing (climbing half their move speed) without taking a -5 penalty.
Acclimated: Goliaths are acclimated to high environments, therefore Goliath characters do not take the penalties described in the DMG relating to altitude. Unlike other mountain denizens, a Goliath retains this acclimation even if he should spend a great deal of time at lower elevations.
+2 bonus on Sense Motive checks.
Automatic Languages: Common and Gol-Kaa. Bonus languages: Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Terran.
Favored Class: Barbarian
Level Adjustment: +1