Shameless promo

Professional wrestler Terry Funk and Sheri Haynes, one of the top female athletes in Texas Panhandle history, will be signing a recently released book, "Pride of the Plains: 50 years of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame" from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Hastings, 2020 S. Georgia.

Both are obviously members of the Hall of Fame. Funk was inducted with his brother, Dory. Jr., in 1999. His dad, Dory, Sr., is also in the Hall, having gone in in 1977. Funk, one of the area's most colorful characters, is one of the Panhandle's chief ambassadors.

Haynes may not be quite as well known, but she was an extremely versatile athlete at first McLean High School and later in college during the 1970s. Haynes was an outstanding track, golf and tennis player at McLean, but her forte was basketball where she was an all-state forward in the six-on-six game.

She won a national championship while at Delta State University and finished her career with the Wayland Flying Queens before a high school coaching career. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.

The 342-page book profiles 145 inductees. Yours truly profiled his fair share of these athletes and coaches in what was a group effort among about a half-dozen or so. Amarillo College journalism professor Mike Haynes, brother of Sheri, and former West Texas A&M journalism professor Dave Wohlfarth spearheaded the project.

I've already been paid and I don't get any percentage of the sales, but I will say it's valuable slice of history into Texas Panhandle athletics. The finished product turned out much better than I ever imagined.