Wayland Baptist University - Athletics

Athletics

Wayland Baptist teams, nicknamed athletically as the Pioneers, are part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC), while its football team competes in the Central States Football League (CSFL). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, dance, football, golf, soccer, track & field and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, dance, golf, soccer, track & field, volleyball and wrestling.

Wayland's women's basketball program has the distinction of being the only women's team to win 1,300 games. The mascot for the women's team is the Flying Queens. The original team name was the Wayland Lassies, but in 1948, a local company, Harvest Queen Mill provided uniforms for the team, so they became the Harvest Queens. Before the 1950 season began, the team had a chance to play a game in Mexico city. A Wayland grad, Claude Hutcherson, was persuaded to fly the team to Mexico. Hutcherson became enamored with the team, and became a major sponsor, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the team. When Hutcherson Air Service became a full sponsor of the team, they began calling the team the Hutcherson Flying Queens. Hutcherson provided three sets of uniforms, plus traveling attire, and flew the team about nine thousand miles a year to games. To this day, Hutcherson Air Service continues to provide travel for the women's road games.

Ironically, the strong support of Claude Hutcherson created problems for the school. Wayland considered dropping the team because the scholarships threatened their accreditation. In 1961, the Wayland board of trustees voted unanimously to eliminate women's basketball. The school had difficulty funding the academic programs. The accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges, wasn't interested in AAU championships. Interestingly, there were no plans to eliminate the men's scholarships, only the women's scholarships. The local citizens did not accept the decision. Local businessmen, under the leadership of Claude Hutcherson, raised money to privately fund scholarships for a year. The trustees voted to reverse their position.

The team was coached by Harley Redin. Redin served in the Marine Air Corp in WWII, logging 50 combat missions over the South Pacific. After the war, he became the athletic director of Wayland Baptist, and the coach of the men's basketball team. The men's teams were very successful, making the NAIA post-season tournament three separate years. However, he became the coach of the women's team in 1955, and was even more successful—in 1954 they began a winning streak that would stretch to 131 games, including four consecutive AAU national championships. The winning streak would eclipse a prior winning streak of 102 games, held by Hanes Hosiery, which ended in 1954. For eighteen years under the coaching leadership of Redin, the team would win 431 games against only 66 losses. The team won six national AAU championships, and finished second six other times. Redin would go on to coach the USA Women's Pan American Team in 1959 and 1971. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

On April 1, 2010, Wayland Baptist announced its intention to bring back the football program and join the Central States Football League in 2012. On December 8, 2010, the Pioneers introduced Jeff Lynn, former head coach of New Mexico Military Institute, as the first head coach in over 70 years. On April 24, 2011, Lynn stepped down from head coach because of family reasons. He would be replaced by former Lubbock Coronado High School coach, Butch Henderson.

The cross country, and track and field program have won a total of 14 national championships. The Programs compete at notable track meets and cross country such as the Cowboy Jamboree, Texas relays, Drake relays, and the Micheal Johnson Classic. In 2012, Wayland's men's track team won the NAIA National Championship by a margin of 38 points, which was the largest margin of victory in 23 years. 4 Wayland athletes won individual championships, in addition to Wayland winning the 4x400 relay championship.