Neff had taken over the reins of the university following the death of President Samuel Palmer Brooks in 1931, and the new chief executive was open to ideas that might help Baylor make it through the hard times. We have a lot of fun,” they told reporters at the time.Īs the Keys Quads prepared to graduate from high school in 1933 during the depths of the Depression, their lives took a new course when Baylor President Pat Neff decided to step in. “So many unusual, interesting things have happened to us because we’re quadruplets that we don’t mind the occasional unpleasantness and inconvenience at all. Occasionally the young women’s celebrity allowed them some heady perks, as when they met Hollywood stars including Gary Cooper and Marie Dressler during a trip to Los Angeles.

And as they made public appearances over the years, the girls became experienced public speakers.

They did, however, agree to let the girls appear at a few events, including annual displays at the Oklahoma State Fair where visitors paid 25 cents to see them.Īs the Keys Quads grew up they discovered a shared talent for music, learning to sing as a quartet and play piano and saxophone. But the couple were Baptists whose values prompted them to reject most offers to display their new babies in what they considered unsuitable venues. Before long, he and Alma began getting offers from circuses, vaudeville houses and even Hollywood to show off the quadruplets for money, which certainly would have helped the family financial picture. Flake Keys made a modest living selling hardware and furniture in Hollis. The Keys were one of many working class Oklahoma families struggling to survive when their roster of children doubled in an instant. Together they joined a household that already included four older brothers and sisters. Roberta and Mona were identical twins, while Mary and Leota were fraternal. When people visited the Keys Quads, they learned that the four girls were not all “identical,” but could be considered two pairs of twins. Former President Teddy Roosevelt even sent his congratulations by telegraph. Word spread quickly, inspiring more than 3,000 people to travel to Hollis during the first three months of the quads’ lives just to see them. So, when Flake and Alma Keys from the small Oklahoma town of Hollis became parents on June 4, 1915, they were dumbfounded when the single child they expected turned out to be four girls, weighing a total of 16 pounds. But a century ago it was a much different reality, with the birth of quadruplets a rare event that became even rarer when a group of quads beat the odds by surviving past childhood.

According to the latest available government statistics, a total of 228 quadruplet births were recorded in the United States in 2015, most of those achieved with the assistance of fertility drugs. In this day of modern medicine, multiple births - even the birth of quadruplets - won’t necessarily become front-page news. The Keys Quadruplets with Baylor President Pat Neff The story of how these two talented and accomplished sets of sisters came to Baylor and left the university for successful lives in the world is a tale that blends large doses of close family bonds, hard work and talent with a little bit of show business and luck. Brooke was the outlier of the group, picking up a BBA degree from Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business.Īlmost 60 years earlier - on another set of quadruplets, the Keys of Oklahoma, had received their BA degrees from Baylor President Pat Neff on the stage in Waco Hall. Three of the quads - Alison, Claire and Darcy - graduated with BA degrees in journalism from the College of Arts & Sciences. On May 17, 1997, a set of identical quadruplets - Alison, Brooke, Claire and Darcy Hansen of San Antonio - walked the stage in the Ferrell Center during commencement and received their diplomas.

Twenty years ago today, an event took place at Baylor that had occurred only once before in the university’s long history, and hasn’t happened again since.

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