All legendary athletic programs can trace their history to a formative period which set the stage for future successes, and so it is with Wayland’s Flying Queens. In the early Fifties, Mauriene Smithson Matthews and her teammates began what would become a dynasty in women’s basketball, taking a four-year-old senior college program to the pinnacle of the game.
    Matthews, regarded as one of the best guards in the nation, lettered on four Amateur Athletic Union national tournament teams, finishing second in 1952-54, winning the first two of what would become four consecutive AAU national titles with crowns in 1953-54 and 1954-55. It was also during Matthews’ career that the Flying Queens started their record 131-game winning streak. Wayland was 120-15 during Matthews’ tenure, with 10 of those losses coming in her freshman year.
    Highly regarded by both coaches and teammates, Matthews was named Co-Captain of the Flying Queens in 1953-54 and 1954-55. She was Also a member of the United States National AAU Team which won the Pan American Games championship in 1955.
     Matthews completed the Bachelor of Science degree in education in 1955, embarking on a 33-year teaching career in the Plainview Public Schools. She received numerous teaching honors during that time, including Lifetime Membership in PTA, the Teacher Recognition Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Loyalty, and certification in English as a second language, reading, and higher order thinking skills.
     Matthews retired from the Plainview Independent School District in May, 1995. She and her husband Robert, a farmer in the Providence community east of Plainview, have one daughter, Robin.