Northpinellas: Miss Tall blends into statuesque crowd

So they lowered the tiara onto her head, wrapped a royal robe around her shoulders, tied a banner across her chest and put roses in her arms at the Adams Mark Caribbean Gulf Resort in Clearwater Beach on Sunday.

"Thank you for believing in me," she said. "I'll make you proud this year."

Amy Storm of Dallas, 27, is the new reigning Miss Tall International, representing Tall Clubs International's more than 65 clubs in the United States and Canada. Tall Club members must be 21 years or older, with women at least 5 feet 10 and men at least 6 feet 2. There is no Mr. Tall International.

Not the typical beauty queen, she is a cancer survivor, 6 feet tall, plus size, with a smile sparkling with braces.

Storm is one of about 4,000 Tall Clubs International members who have found solace, friendship, romance and just great fun in the weekend bashes member clubs hold on different weekends throughout the year. The Heart of West Florida Tall Club, based in Clearwater, held a "Survivor Weekend 2001" around the theme of the TV show. The event, attended by about 70 members, started Friday and continued through Monday at the Adams Mark in Clearwater Beach. The party went on until dawn each night as new bonds were formed and old ones renewed.

When she joined the Tall Texans in Dallas two years ago, Storm was recovering from cancer treatments, her hair was 1-inch long and she felt self-conscious.

One of the men looked at her and said, "I just love your hair. It's so curly."

Storm said that's when she realized no explanations were needed with this group. "They basically love you for who you are, not who you wish you could be," she said.

On Friday night, at the "Pirates Land on Survivor Island" costume dance, Gayle Swain of Huntington Beach, Calif., 6 feet 1, remembered the Miss Tall International pageant in which she won third runner-up nationally in 1991.

"We are not all petite little things, and yet we get to compete in a beauty pageant and feel special," she said. "Every little girl wants to to be a beauty queen, and it was good for my daughters to see what you can achieve."

Many club members are single, and Swain said tall clubs also helped her get back into meeting singles after her divorce in a way in which she felt safe.

Alice Hudson of Tampa, 5 feet 11 -- 6 feet 1 or 2 in the heels she was wearing -- took a break from the dance floor and said, "This is the one time I get away with wearing as high a heel as I want and still look up."

Later, she was looking up into the eyes of Dan Stout of St. Paul, Minn., 6 feet 7. "You see what I mean about looking up?" she asked from the dance floor.

Don Russ of Orlando, 6 feet 2, called a "squeaker" because he barely makes the requirements, admitted he may not actually be tall enough now that he has lost his hair. But as long as he keeps his dues up, he'll be in the club.

"We really just have one thing in common, but we're a close-knit group," Russ said. "But after you get over the 10-minute conversation about being tall, then you have the rest of life to deal with."

Another aspect of life many find is romance.

As Sharon Nieto of San Diego, 5 feet 10, came off the dance floor from a fast number with John Carter of Dallas, 6 feet 4, she said, "I don't know how to do that dance, but he's a strong leader."

Nieto followed Carter's lead from the dance to the seat beside him at the Sunday night dinner before the crowning of Miss Tall International. They held hands off and on during the announcements and kissed once briefly.

Commenting on the bonds that develop during the weekend, Nieto said, "There's just so much dancing," she said. "It just comes naturally that when you dance with people, you get to know them."

When a question was posed about what members do when they develop attachments, Carter had an unexpected answer.

"They get married, and they stay in the club," he said.

Back to North Pinellas news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Mary Jo Melone

Howard Troxler

From the Times
North Pinellas desks