Lometa Odom, a four-time all-American for the Flying Queens and a member of the inaugural class of the Wayland Baptist University Athletics Hall of Honor, died Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Amarillo. She was 83.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31 at First Baptist Church of Dimmitt with Mike Odom officiating. Burial will follow in Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Dimmitt by Colonial Funeral Home.
In the illustrious history of the Flying Queens basketball program, only two athletes have ever been named all-American four consecutive years. Odom was the first, being recognized each year from 1953-56 for her key role in Wayland's phenomenal success in the 1950s.
During Odom's four years at Wayland, the Flying Queens compiled a cumulative record of 115-5, including three Amateur Athletic Union national championships and one second-place finish. Playing under head coaches Sam Allen, Caddo Matthews and Harley Redin, Odom helped the Queens to a pair of 30-win seasons as a freshman and sophomore, followed by two perfect campaigns of 23-0 as a junior and senior, beginning WBU's remarkable 131-game win streak.
Odom scored 1,614 career points, which today ranks ninth on the Flying Queens' all-time scoring list.
In addition, teams on which Odom played still hold school records for most wins in a season (37 in 1952-53), most consecutive wins (131 from 1953-58), best defensive average (29.4 points per game in 1954-55), and fewest losses (0 in 1953-54 and 1954-55).
Odom was one of eight people in the first class inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor in 1992, along with other Flying Queens representatives Ruth Cannon, Claude Hutcherson, Wilda Hutcherson Redin and Coach Harley Redin.
Odom was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., in 2011 and was the first woman inducted into the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. She also is a member of the Texas Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame.
Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association, 10900-B Stonelake Blvd., Suite 320, Austin, TX 78759.
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