Mom Helps Twin Stars Shine

Just being a mom has landed this California high school teacher in the newspapers.

Finally, those extra-long twin beds, ubiquitous in college dorms, will be put to good use. Deborah Ledford’s twin sons Brook and Robin Lopez are 7-foot freshmen basketball players attending Stanford on full scholarships this year. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, you’ll likely see these guys by the time March Madness rolls around. (Brook suffered a herniated disk last summer but was expected to recover by tournament season.) Says USA Today in its pre-season report: “The Lopez twins will be excellent.”

To hear mom—herself a 6-foot-plus Stanford alum—tell it, there’s nothing unusual about raising twin basketball stars and two other boys as a single parent while teaching high school math and German.

“I don’t consider what I do special,” says Ledford. “It’s normal. Millions of other parents are providing opportunities and good values, bringing their kids to sports, museums, national parks.”

Now that Ledford is done reading bedtime stories, playing math and geography games, and managing the intense sports scheduling for her sons, she plans to take road trips in Canada and Europe. And of course to Stanford. “I’m going to see as many of my boys’ basketball games as I can.”                 

 —REBECCA l. WEBER