Share This
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The first-prize winner of the national pageant is awarded the title of "Miss America" for one year.
The pageant...
Learn more about Miss America »
Add More Topics
Save this view to a base, or just for yourself.
about 82 Competitor topics matching:
Filter this Collection
Margaret Gorman
Margaret Gorman (August 18, 1905–October 1, 1995, age 90) is best known for being the very first Miss America, from the year 1921. Her measurements were 30–25–32.
Gorman was chosen from a photo popularity contest and finalist round as the first ...
Competitions won:
Mary Katherine Campbell
Mary Katherine Campbell (December 18, 1905–June 7, 1990) was the only person to win the Miss America Pageant twice. Campbell was Miss America 1922 and Miss America 1923, and she was also First Runner Up at the 1924 Miss America Pageant. Competing as...
Ruth Malcomson
Ruth Malcomson (1906–1988) was Miss America in 1924.
Malcomson, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, defeated Mary Campbell, who was seeking her third consecutive crown.
Competitions won:
Fay Lanphier
Fay Elinora Lanphier (12 December 1905 – June 21, 1959) was a model most noted for becoming Miss California in 1924 and Miss America in 1925. She was also the 1925 Rose Queen. To date, she is the only person to hold both titles at the same time....
Competitions won:
Norma Smallwood
Norma Descygne Smallwood (May 12, 1909 – May 8, 1966) was 1926's Miss America.
Smallwood, whose full name was Norma Des Cygne Smallwood, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, former Miss Tulsa and student at Oklahoma State University, was the first Native...
Competitions won:
Lois Delander
Lois Eleanor Delander (February 14, 1911 – 1985) was Miss America in 1927.
Delander, a native of Joliet, Illinois and high school junior, aged 16, won the crown on her parents' twentieth wedding anniversary. The pageant was not held again until 1932...
Competitions won:
Marian Bergeron
Marian Bergeron (May 3, 1918 – October 22, 2002) was Miss America in 1933.
Bergeron, from West Haven, Connecticut, won the crown as the pageant returned to Atlantic City, New Jersey after a five year hiatus. She was the youngest Miss America in...
Competitions won:
Henrietta Leaver
Henrietta Leaver (March 28, 1916 – September 1993) was Miss America in 1935.
Leaver, from McKeesport, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, was the first Miss America crowned since 1933, following a failed pageant held in Madison Square Garden which crowned...
Competitions won:
Rose Coyle
Rose Veronica Coyle (July 30, 1914–February 1988) was Miss America in 1936.
Coyle, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , was the first to receive an encore in the talent completion. In 1938, she married Leonard Schlessinger, the National General Manager...
Competitions won:
Bette Cooper
Bette Cooper (born 1920) was 1937's Miss America. She was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey.
Cooper, who had earlier won the Miss Bertrand Island title, reportedly does not speak of her involvement with Miss America.
Cooper attended Centenary Junior...
Competitions won:
Marilyn Meseke
Marilyn Meseke (also known as Marilyn Hume-Rogers) (October 7, 1916 – September 12, 2001) has the distinction of being twice crowned Miss Ohio (1931 and 1938) and Miss America in 1938.
Meseke was christened Mary Ellen Spurrier in 1917, near Lima,...
Competitions won:
Patricia Donnelly
Patricia Donnelly was Miss America in 1939.
Donnelly, from Detroit, Michigan, was the last to be crowned at the Steel Pier.
Competitions won:
Frances Marie Burke
Frances Marie Burke was Miss America in 1940.
Burke, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the first Miss America to be crowned at the Boardwalk Hall.
Competitions won:
Rosemary LaPlanche
Rosemary LaPlanche (October 11, 1923–May 6, 1979) was Miss America in 1941.
LaPlanche, from Los Angeles, California, was Miss California in both 1940 and 1941. A new rule after her victory disallowed contestants from competing at the national level...
Competitions won:
Jo-Carroll Dennison
Jo-Carroll Dennison (born December 16, 1923) was a beauty queen and actress originally from Tyler, Texas.
Dennison, a self-supported student at the Federal Institute in Tyler, Texas was lured into competing in the Miss Tyler pageant by the offer of...
Competitions won:
Jean Bartel
Jean Bartel was Miss California and Miss America 1943. She won a talent and swimsuit award at the Miss America pageant. Bartel initially entered the pageant after learning one of the judges was Broadway actor and producer W. Horace Schmidlapp. As...
Competitions won:
Venus Ramey
Venus Ramey (b. September 26, 1924, Ashland, Kentucky) was Miss America in 1944, and was the first red-haired contestant to win the title.
Ramey competed as Miss District of Columbia and worked during her reign to help win suffrage for Washington D...
Competitions won:
Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson (born July 16, 1924 in Bronx, New York) became in 1945 the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America pageant. She appeared on various television shows in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s and '80s, she was involved in New York City...
Competitions won:
Marilyn Buferd
Marilyn Buferd (January 30, 1925 – March 27, 1990) was Miss America in 1946. She appeared in several minor films in the 1950s as well as several foreign language films, including the notable Touchez pas au grisbi opposite Jean Gabin (1954).
Buferd,...
Competitions won:
Barbara Jo Walker
Barbara Jo Walker Hummel (March 12, 1926–June 7, 2000) was Miss America in 1947.
She was the last Miss America to be crowned in her bathing suit; all since 1947 have been crowned in their evening gowns. Walker, was Miss Memphis, the last city...
Competitions won:
Jacque Mercer
Jacque Mercer (1931–2 February, 1982) from Litchfield, Arizona was Miss America in 1949. She is mentioned (usually by title, once by name) several times in the 1997 Philip Roth novel, American Pastoral.
Competitions won:
Yolande Betbeze
Yolande Betbeze Fox (born 1929 in Mobile, Alabama) was Miss America in 1951.
Fox (then Betbeze) entered Miss Alabama for the scholarship opportunities the pageant presented. Having been educated in a convent school, she was reluctant to pose in a...
Colleen Kay Hutchins
Colleen Kay Hutchins (born 23 May 1926), from Salt Lake City, Utah, was crowned as Brigham Young University Homecoming Queen in 1947 with Jean Romney and Myrlene Romney as her attendants. In 1952 she was crowned as Miss America. She is also the...
Competitions won:
Neva Jane Langley
Neva Jane Langley (born January 25, 1933 in Lakeland, Florida) is an American former beauty pageant contestant. As a college sophomore she transferred to Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. While attending that college she became Miss Macon, Miss...
Competitions won:
Evelyn Margaret Ay
Evelyn Margaret Ay Sempier (8 March 1933 – 18 October 2008) was winner of the 1954 Miss America beauty pageant.
She was born the daughter of German immigrants in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
She had a short but successful career in smaller beauty pageant....
Competitions won:
Lee Meriwether
Lee Ann Meriwether (born May 27, 1935) is Miss America 1955, and an American actress, appearing primarily in movies, soap operas and television. The brunette Meriwether is known as Buddy Ebsen's daughter-in-law and for her role as his crime-solving...
Competitions won:
Sharon Ritchie
Sharon Kay Ritchie (born January 12, 1937) was Miss America in 1956.
Ritchie spent her childhood in Grand Island, Nebraska, but hailed from Denver as Miss Colorado. Formerly married to singer/golfer Don Cherry, sportswriter Kyle Rote, and E.F....
Competitions won:
Marian McKnight
Marian McKnight (born 19 December 1936 in Manning, South Carolina) is a former American beauty pageant winner.
She earned the 1957 Miss America title with a Marilyn Monroe act in the talent portion, and later worked with Monroe's ex-husband, Joe...
Competitions won:
Marilyn Van Derbur
Marilyn Van Derbur (born June 6, 1937) was Miss America in 1958.
Van Derbur from Denver, Colorado, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado. As a result of a long history of sexual abuse by her father, she founded the American...
Competitions won:
Mary Ann Mobley
Mary Ann Mobley (born February 17, 1939 in Biloxi, Mississippi). She is a former Miss America, actress, and television personality.
She married actor Gary Collins in 1967. Their daughter, Mary Clancy Collins, is a Senior Vice President with MGM...
Competitions won:
Lynda Lee Mead
Lynda Lee Mead Shea (born c. 1939), from Natchez, Mississippi, attended the University of Mississippi, where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, and won the Miss America pageant in 1960. She is married to John J. Shea, Jr. and they have three...
Competitions won:
Nancy Fleming
Nancy Anne Fleming (born ca. 1942) won the Miss America crown in 1961.
A native of Montague, Michigan, Fleming competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Michigan. She competed in Miss Michigan as Miss White Lake.
She later worked in the...
Competitions won:
Maria Fletcher
Maria Beale Fletcher was Miss America 1962.
Fletcher is from Asheville, North Carolina, and was a graduate of A.C. Reynolds High School. She worked as a Radio City Music Hall Rockette prior to winning the crown. She was the Miss America Preliminary...
Competitions won:
Jacquelyn Mayer
Jacquelyn Jeanne "Jackie" Mayer (born August 20, 1942 in Sandusky, Ohio) is a former Miss Ohio and Miss America and currently travels the United States as a motivational speaker, noted for her recovery from a near-fatal stroke suffered at age 28....
Competitions won:
Donna Axum
Donna Axum was Miss America in 1964.
Axum from El Dorado, Arkansas, now lives in Fort Worth and is a member of the boards of the National Committee for the Performing Arts for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Fort Worth Symphony, the Van...
Competitions won:
Vonda Kay Van Dyke
Vonda Kay Van Dyke was crowned the 1965 Miss America on September 13, 1964. She had previously been Miss Arizona. She is unique among pageant winners in that she was and still is the only Miss America who was also Miss Congeniality.
Vonda Kay Van...
Competitions won:
Deborah Irene Bryant
Deborah Irene Bryant, from Overland Park, Kansas, was Miss America 1966.
After graduating in the top ten of her high school graduating class, Deborah went on to attend Columbia College on a full academic scholarship, during which time she...
Competitions won:
Jane Anne Jayroe
Jayne Anne Jayroe (born October 30, 1947) from Laverne, Oklahoma, was Miss America 1967.
Jane Anne Jayroe was born on October 30, 1947 to Pete Jayroe and Helene Smith Jayroe in Clinton, Oklahoma. Jane grew up in Sentinel and Laverne, Oklahoma. She...
Competitions won:
Debra Dene Barnes
Debra Dene Barnes, from Pittsburg, Kansas, was crowned Miss America 1968.
Debra was raised in Moran, Kansas. Upon graduation from high school, she attended Pittsburg State Teachers College in Pittsburg, Kansas and majored in music.
After winning the...
Competitions won:
Judith Ford
Judith Anne Ford, a native of Belvidere, Illinois, was crowned Miss America in 1969. Judith Ford, later known as Judi Nash, had been Miss Illinois 1968 when she competed for the Miss America title. Ford was a world-class trampolinist at the time of...
Competitions won:
Pamela Eldred
Pamela Eldred (born April 21, 1948), from West Bloomfield, represented Michigan in the 1970 Miss America pageant and was chosen Miss America 1970. After her year of service she pursued a career. As of 2008 she still lives in West Bloomfield.
Competitions won:
Phyllis George
Phyllis Ann George Brown (born 25 June 1949) is an American businesswoman and a former sportscaster. She is a former Miss Texas and Miss America of 1971.
George was born in Denton, Texas. She attended the University of North Texas for three years...
Competitions won:
Laurie Lea Schaefer
Laurel Lea Schaefer (born c. 1950) from Bexley, Ohio, was Miss America 1972.
Competitions won:
Terry Anne Meeuwsen
Terry Anne Meeuwsen (born 1949 in DePere, Wisconsin) is an American television personality and singer. She is also known for winning the Miss America pageant in 1973.
After her reign as Miss America, college work, and a stint with the New Christy...
Rebecca Ann King
Rebecca Ann King (b. 1950, Hancock, Iowa) is most noted as holder of the 1974 Miss America title. Heralding the arrival of feminism in this most traditional of events, Rebecca King was a law student, who famously expressed feminist political views...
Competitions won:
Shirley Cothran
Shirley Cothran (born 1953) was the 1975 winner of the Miss America pageant. Cothran used the scholarship money from the contest to get her Ph.D. in Education. She currently tours as a motivational speaker and still resides in Texas.
Competitions won:
Tawny Little
Tawny Elaine Little (born 15 September 1956), aka Tawny Godin, was born in Portland, Maine. Ms. Little was Miss America for 1976 and later became a well-known anchorworman in Los Angeles, California. In the past, Little worked at KABC-TV, KCAL-TV...
Competitions won:
Dorothy Benham
Dorothy Benham (born 1957) from Edina, Minnesota, was Miss America 1977.
Competitions won:
Susan Perkins
Susan Perkins, a native of Middletown, Ohio, was Miss America 1978.
She has been a professional singer, spokesperson and television reporter. Susan walked in the New York Marathon with the Achilles Club (which serves disabled and senior athletes) as...
Competitions won:
Kylene Barker
Kylene Barker from Galax, Virginia, was Miss America 1979.
After her year of service, Kylene opened D. Kylene Ladies Apparel on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida which she owned and operated for 13 years. She signed a ten year lease at the age of...
Cheryl Prewitt
Cheryl Prewitt (born 1957), from Ackerman Mississippi was Miss America 1980. Cheryl Prewitt-Salem grew up in the community of Chester in Choctaw County, Mississippi. She is now married to Harry Salem. She has two sons and a daughter who is deceased....
Susan Powell
Susan Powell is an American actress, singer, and television personality known for becoming Miss America in 1981.
Susan Powell was born and raised in Elk City, Oklahoma, attending Oklahoma City University where she studied voice under Florence...
Competitions won:
Elizabeth Gracen
Elizabeth Grace Ward is an American actress known almost as much for her off-screen activities as for her movie and television roles. She was born Elizabeth Grace Ward but should not be confused with another Elizabeth Ward who worked as a television...
Competitions won:
Debra Maffett
Debra Sue Maffett (born November 9, 1956) was Miss America 1983. Debbie graduated from S.P. Waltrip High School in Houston, Texas in 1975.
Maffett, from Cut and Shoot, Texas, is a co-host of the "The Harvest Show" on LeSea Broadcasting Network....
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Williams made history on September 17, 1983 when she became the first woman of African American descent to be crowned Miss America. Williams' reign as Miss...
Suzette Charles
Suzette Charles (born Suzette DeGaetano on March 2, 1963) is an American singer and entertainer.
Born in Mays Landing, New Jersey, she represented New Jersey in the 1984 Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She won her preliminary...
Competitions won:
Sharlene Wells Hawkes
Sharlene Wells Hawkes (born 16 March 1964), from Salt Lake City, Utah, was Miss America 1985.
Hawkes (née Wells), was born in Asunción, Paraguay and spent most of her childhood in South America.
Hawkes is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of...
Competitions won:
Susan Akin
Susan Akin, from Meridian, Mississippi, was Miss America 1986. Born in 1965, she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women at the University of Mississippi.
In the past, Susan traveled extensively with Bob Hope, performing at conventions both...
Kellye Cash
Kellye Cash from Memphis, Tennessee, was Miss America 1987.
Since her year as Miss America, Kellye has appeared nationally on The David Letterman Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, the Trinity Broadcasting Network and more.
She has performed with...
