Heidi Burge obit

 

Fans Crushed As Former WNBA Star Dies Suddenly at 54

She was way too young.

She was not on the list.

One of the best players in Virginia Cavaliers women’s basketball history has sadly passed away this week.

She was just 54 years old.

Heidi Burge, a former star for the Virginia and a standout player in the WNBA, has died, according to multiple reports that have been confirmed by the school.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Heidi Burge Horton. Heidi was a cherished member of the Virginia Women’s Basketball family, her legacy will forever be a part of Virginia Athletics. Our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones,” the school announced.

Heidi Burge was a standout player at the University of Virginia, helping the school reach three straight Final Fours. She and her twin sister, Heather, combined to average 24 points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Heidi Burge went on to play overseas and later in the WNBA, starring for the Los Angeles Sparks and Washington Mystics.

The Disney Channel Original Movie, “Double Teamed,” is based on her and her twin sister.

Horton's death was first reported by Jerry Ratcliffe, a longtime journalist covering University of Virginia athletics. According to a notice posted on Eikenhorst Funeral Services' website, Horton died on Monday. Per Ratcliffe, Horton was diagnosed with Grade 4 brain cancer in October 2025. After going into remission, her tumors returned in July, and Horton entered palliative care in September. Horton is survived by her husband, Patrick, her son Jonathan, her daughter Holly, and her sister Heather. The University of Virginia Women's Basketball program said it was "deeply saddened" by Horton's passing.

Heidi Ann Horton was born in Los Angeles in 1971. Horton and her twin sister, Heather, were unusually tall for girls their age-Heidi was 6'1" when she started ninth grade-making them attractive to the basketball coach at Palos Verdes High School. Speaking to The Buzz Magazines, a Houston lifestyle magazine, in 2024, Horton recalled a coach stopping her and Heather in the hallway.

"'Oh my gosh, how tall are you?'" Horton recalled the coach asking her as he encouraged her to sign up for basketball. "Heather came running home, excited, and I was just like, nah. I had already signed up to play volleyball."

But sign up, she did. Along with Heather, Horton fell in love with basketball and powered the Palos Verdes Sea Kings to a championship. The Burge's story was later turned into a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie, Double Teamed, which dramatizes their time in high school. Both sisters earned full scholarships to the University of Virginia, where they played with future WNBA star and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and took the Cavaliers to three straight NCAA Women's Final Four tournaments. In 1991, the duo was recognized by Guiness World Records as the world's tallest female twins, a record later broken in 2004.

"If I didn't always have another person around as tall as me, I don't know what I'd do," Heather said of her sister before UVA took on Stanford in 1990.

After college, the Burges went overseas to play women's basketball in Europe, one of the only avenues for women's players to continue their careers. After finishing playing in Greece, Horton signed with the Los Angeles Sparks of the newly-formed WNBA. She made her debut with the Sparks in 1997 before being taken second by the Washington Mystics in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft. As a 26-year-old who was the centerpiece of a brand-new Mystics team in a burgeoning league, Horton took to the down-to-earth nature of the early W.

"This game isn't about paying $50 a ticket," Burge told the Washington Post in 1998. "It's not just people from politics and wealth, like the men's game. We cater to the younger crowd. They're almost a part of our team. We sign autographs, we hang around after the game, we don't get ushered in and out in limousines."

Horton retired from the WNBA in 1999 after a career-ending back injury. She would later say that her biggest disappointment was that she never got the chance to play against or with her sister. Heather Burge played for a single season for the Sacramento Monarchs in 1999.

After the end of basketball career, Horton moved to Houston and had a short stint as a color commentator for the Houston Comets. She married Patrick Horton after meeting him through mutual friends. Horton turned down a fulltime color commentating job with the Comets in order to start a family, but she didn't stay far from basketball. Horton became a physical therapist specializing in back injuries and founded Hoops School, a basketball program for Houston-area youth. There, she was known as "Coach Heidi."

Burge played professionally for six years overseas with AS Montferrand in France (1993–94), GYSEV-Sopron in Hungary (1994–95), Cariparma in Italy (1995–96), and finally Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece (1996–1997).

Following her season in Greece, Burge accepted an offer to play in the newly formed Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for the Los Angeles Sparks alongside four-time Olympic gold medal winner Lisa Leslie. Her debut game was played on June 25, 1997 in a 74 - 54 win over the Charlotte Sting where she recorded 1 point, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 1 block. Although the team led the league in scoring (with 74 points per game) and were fourth (out of eight teams) in defensive rating, the Sparks finished a disappointing 14-14 and out of the playoff picture.

On February 18, 1998, Burge was taken by the Washington Mystics as their first selection and second selection overall in the expansion draft. Burge was featured as one of the key Mystics players prior to the start of the season and included in team marketing. During the season, Burge would start half the team's 30 games, finish second on the team in both field goal and three point percentages and fourth in minutes, points, rebounds, and blocked shots, but it wouldn't be enough, as the team would finish a league-worst 3-27 despite the presence of Olympian Nikki McCray. Her stay with the Mystics was short as well, as Burge was released on June 9, 1999 by the team following her injury-plagued 1998 season (in which she struggled with a lower back injury and a broken finger) and after drafting all-star forward Chamique Holdsclaw.