Fans flock to Flying Queens Museum on opening day

PLAINVIEW, Texas (KCBD) - A crowd was cheering for the Flying Queens on Saturday, but this time not on the basketball court. The Flying Queens Museum opened in the Mabee Regional Heritage Center.

The president of Wayland Baptist University, Bobby Hall, says women on this team have been paving the way for other women across the nation for more than 70 years.

“This is kind of one of the birth places of women’s basketball, in a sense,” Hall said. “It didn’t all start here, but much of the development of the game came here.”

PREVIOUS STORY: Texas Historical Foundation donates to Flying Queens Museum

Hall says not only were the Flying Queens influencing women pursuing basketball, they were strong on the court and off.

“These are highly successful, driven women,” Hall said. “They wouldn’t have been as good as they were on the court if they weren’t that, and you’ve seen that in their professional lives.”

Former Texas Tech women’s basketball coach, Marsha Sharp, credits her success to this program.

“My career at Tech would not have been anything close to what it was if I had not had the opportunity to come through this program and be around Coach Dean Weese, and all of the things he taught me about the game,” Sharp said.

PREVIOUS STORY: Construction underway for Flying Queens Museum in Plainview

Many Flying Queens followed a career related to basketball, Kaye Garms in particular.

“I also refereed women’s basketball, and then after I quit refereeing, I became a supervisor of women’s basketball officials for the Western Athletic Conference for 25 years,” Garms said.

The team holds the record for winning 131 consecutive games. Former Flying Queen, Alice “Cookie” Barron, says they played as a team and winning jut made it sweeter.

“You just take one game at a time and hope you don’t lose the next one because you do not want to be on the team that loses,” Barron said. “So, it was wonderful though, but never got too excited about it, we just kept playing.”

To see the museum honor the legacy of this team these former players contributed to is putting smiles on their faces.

“Oh! I think it’s marvelous, just wonderful,” Garms said. “It’s awesome, and if people don’t come to see this they’re losing out.”

You can go see the Flying Queens Museum at the Mabee Regional Heritage Center Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m to 4 p.m.

Copyright 2023 KCBD. All rights reserved.