If the old adage “success breeds success” is true, the four years spent at Wayland Baptist College may have been the crucible in which was formed a prominent and successful career for Kaye Garms in women’s sports. During her tenure at Wayland from 1954-58, the Flying Queens lost just one game, claiming four Amateur Athletic Union national championships and wining a record of 131 consecutive games. Garms was named AAU All-American in 1956 and 1957 and was Co-Captain and Most Valuable Player of the Flying Queens in 1957-58. As a senior, Garms played on the first United States women’s team to tour Russia, competing against that nation’s top six teams. It was the first combined men’s and women’s basketball exchange trip between the U.S. and Russia.
     A graduae of Loyal (Okla.) High School, Garms majored in physical education and history at Wayland, later earning a master of education degree from the University of Oklahoma before embarking upon a career in sports officiating and physical education. She was selected to officiate the first 15 state girls basketball tournaments and was assigned to 12 state championship games in Colorado from 1975 until her retirement in 1991. She also officiated 16 Colorado state track and field meets and has been an advocate for improving officiating in women’s sports.
     On the collegiate level, Garms worked the 1990 NCAA Division II women’s championship game, the 1989 and 1990 NCAA Division II Regional Tournament, and the 1989 Division I Women’s Midwest Regional Tournament. In In 1987, 1988, and 1989, she was an NAIA National Tournament official and called the championship game in Kansas City all three years.
     A talented physical educator, Garms devoted her 33-year career to teaching and coaching in Colorado and Texas, 25 of those as physical education instructor and girls basketball and track coach for Jefferson County School (Colo.).
     In 1995, Garms was the first woman official to be inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame in 1991, and received the Dorothy Mauk Pioneer Award from Sportswomen of Colorado in 1983.
     At the time of her induction into the Wayland Athletic Hall of Honor in 1996, Garms was supervisor of women’s basketball officials for the Western Athletic Conference.