During the mid-1950’s, Flying Queens basketball teams accomplished a feat no other intercollegiate teams have ever matched.  Under the direction of coaches Caddo Matthews and Harley Redin, the Queens won an unprecedented 131 consecutive games and four straight AAU national championships.  Two prominent members of three of those teams were twin sisters, Faye and Raye Wilson.

The sisters arrived on the Wayland campus separately from Duncanville, Tex.  Raye, a 5’8 guard, came in September of 1952, while Faye, a 5’8 guard/forward, arrived in Plainview in January of 1953.  That first season, the Queens finished with a 35-4 record under the tutelage of Coach Sam Allen, losing in the title game of the national AAU tournament to a team representing Hanes Hosiery.

The amazing win streak began in the 1953-54 season under Coach Matthews.  The Flying Queens went 29-0 and defeated the Kansas City Dons, 39-38, on two free throws with six seconds remaining to win the first-ever national championship in Wayland history.  Faye was one of three Queens from that team to be selected to play in the 1954 French Invitational Tournament.

Wayland went 23-0 during the 1954-55 season and set a school record for defensive play, one that still stands over 50 years later.  That team, led by the defensive play of Faye and Raye, allowed just 28.5 points per game, and won a second straight AAU national championship. 

Faye was named to the AAU All-American team along with teammates Ruth Cannon and Lometa Odom, and was chosen to play in the 1955 Pan American games.  A rover on that team, she was described in the 1955 Wayland Traveler as a great hustler with a good long shot.

Raye, the runner-up at the national tournament’s beauty pageant, was also described as a great hustler who was “…always stealing the ball.  Good on rebounds.”

Both Faye and Raye earned AAU All-American honors in their fourth and final season in a Flying Queens uniform.  Wayland won 23 more games without a defeat during the 1955-56 season and a third national title.

Both women earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Education in May of 1956, and then went on to work for Continental Airlines.  Raye left Continental in 1960, and went to work for Mohawk Airline.  Faye stayed on at Continental until 1966.  She became owner of American Rockwool in 1980 and retired in 1998.