Virginia’s Twin Peaks : Former Palos Verdes High Players Reaching New Heights

Heather and Heidi Burge do not seek publicity, but it is hard to avoid when you are the world’s tallest female identical twins.

At 6 foot 4 3/4, the twins are more than comfortable with their height. The world--not to mention gawkers at the beach--should get used to it.

“Day in and day out we live with the fact that we are abnormal height for women,” said Heidi, who along with Heather, is a forward entering her junior year at the University of Virginia. “We know we are going to attract attention. We just chose as twins to have fun with it and joke when a lot of people would get fed up. When people ask about it or look, a lot of time we answer with a joke.

“I go roller-skating all the time (on the beach) and attract attention. In the skates I’m 6-6, and I get lots of looks. People are always commenting, ‘You are so tall,’ or, ‘Look at how long her legs are,’ so you get used to it.”

When a bystander casually goes up to Heather and asks ‘How’s the weather up there,’ she just smiles and laughs, right? Happy Doublemint twins straight out of a gum commercial, right?

“Someone will ask . . . and sometimes I’ll spit on them and say, ‘It’s raining,’ ” Heather said. “You should try that some time.”

Wrong.

Born six minutes apart on Nov. 12, 1971, Heather and Heidi were raised in Palos Verdes Estates. Most people knew the twins, so gawking from peers was a minimum.

They received media attention for their basketball prowess during their sophomore season of high school at Palos Verdes. During their senior seasons, both were consensus prep All-Americans and chose to attend the University of Virginia.

Since then, there has been more publicity.

Page eight of the 1991 Guinness Book of World Records (the paperback edition) features the twins smiling in their Virginia uniforms. Except for their different numbers, it could be a mirror or trick photography.

Last year, while the twins helped Virginia reach the NCAA championship final, they also appeared on the nationally televised morning shows, “Good Morning America” and “CBS This Morning,” talking about their height and answering who is the better player. (“Everyone asks,” the twins say in unison.)

The local newspapers cover the team and even the national tabloids got into the act when The Star ran a story.

“Actually, it was a very nice article,” said Mary, the girls’ mother. (Mary is six feet tall and their father, Larry, is 6-5.)

Mary has noticed that her daughters are very comfortable with the attention they receive. She also notices a difference in the way they react.

Positive attention example: “I visited them, and we went to Georgetown to walk around,” Mary said. “People would call out to them from their cars, or recognize them, and the girls just wave back.”

Negative attention example: “I was with Heidi the other day at the Hollywood Bowl, and there were some people from Israel and France there, looking at her.” Mary said. “They were much shorter, maybe 5-4 and 5-7. I saw the man change position with the woman to get a better look at Heidi. He then whispered to the woman for a while. Heidi had to know what was going on, but she never batted an eyelash.

“I think they’ve gotten used to that, and don’t let it bother them any more,” Mary said.

More amusing is the reactions of 4-year-olds at a summer camp where Heather and Heidi work each morning, one of three summer jobs they have.

“They looked a little confused at first, to see two people as identical as us “ Heidi said. “We laugh about it because one minute you tell them you are Heidi and they call you Heather the next. They are so small, though, that they really cannot understand it.”

Junior high students at a Palos Verdes High basketball camp they work at also react favorably.

“Everybody in Palos Verdes has known us for so a long time,” Heather said. “For a lot of the junior high and high school girls, part of the reason they sign up for the camp is to play with us. That’s kind of nice.”

Although the girls admit that there are times when they wear matching shirts and shorts, they say it is never intentional. They lived together at Virginia their freshman year, but lived in separate off-campus housing last year.

“There’s a cute story which explains our differences,” Heather said. “When we were little, our mom used to keep the cookies in a jar above us on top of the refrigerator. Heidi used to put a chair next to the refrigerator and climb on it to get the cookies. I would hold it and pray that we would not get caught. Heidi is more of a risk-taker, while I plan things out.”

Heather likes to bike on the beach, Heidi prefers her Rollerblades. They both like volleyball and swimming, but say these interests have little to do with their personalities.

“We are totally different,” Heather said. “Heidi does not like to share.”

On the basketball court, Heidi’s career averages are slightly better than Heather’s: 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds compared to 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Heidi has made five three-point shots in her career. Heather has not attempted any. Heather is fifth on Virginia’s career blocked-shot list with 63 in 65 games. Heidi is sixth, with 61 in 69 games. Heather has a career high of 30 points and Heidi once scored 19 points in a college game.

“Neither of us is really any better than the other,” Heidi said. “When we play, on any given day, I’ll win or she’ll win.”

The two will be working at a Palos Verdes basketball camp for advanced instruction for high school girls, run by their former high school coach, Wendell Yoshida. The camp presently is scheduled for today, Saturday and Sunday , but the twins say it may be moved until the second week in August.

“We only started learning the game when we were 14,” Heidi said. “We learned a heck of a lot from Wendell. He took us from ground zero all the way up the ladder.”