# Miss America 1971

Miss America 1971, the 44th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 12, 1970. The Women's Liberation Front demonstrated at the event and Miss Iowa 1970, Cheryl Browne, was the first African American contestant in the history of the Miss America pageant. Miss South Dakota 1970 Mary Harum (Mary Hart) and Miss New Jersey 1970 Hela Yungst would both become media personalities.
Miss Texas 1970, Phyllis George, was crowned Miss America 1971. George would later become a noted media personality, featured on the CBS football program The NFL Today, as well as the First Lady of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983.
In August 1971, George traveled to Vietnam with Miss Nevada 1970, Vicky Jo Todd, Miss New Jersey 1970, Hela Yungst, Miss Arizona 1970, Karen Shields, Miss Arkansas 1970, Donna Connelly, Miss Iowa 1970, Cheryl Browne, and Miss Texas 1970 (George's replacement after she became Miss America), Belinda Myrick. They were participating in a 22-day United Service Organizations tour for American troops there. The tour began in Saigon. Browne later commented that she thought "it was one of the last Miss America groups to go to Vietnam."

## Results
### Placements

| Placement | Contestant |
| Miss America 1971 | Texas – Phyllis George † |
| 1st Runner-Up | South Carolina – Claudia Carmen Turner † |
| 2nd Runner-Up | Maine – Karen Johnson |
| 3rd Runner-Up | Mississippi – Christine McClamroch |
| 4th Runner-Up | Pennsylvania – Maggie Walker |
| Top 10 | Arkansas – Donna Connelly  Florida – Lisa Donovan  New York – Katherine Karlsrud  Oklahoma – Judy Adams  South Dakota – Mary Harum |

### Awards
#### Preliminary awards

| Awards | Contestant |
| Lifestyle and Fitness | Texas - Phyllis George South Carolina - Claudia Turner Hawaii - Kathleen P. O'Sullivan |
| Talent | Florida - Lisa Donovan Oklahoma - Judy Adams Alabama - Suzanne Dennie |

#### Other awards

| Awards | Contestant |
| Miss Congeniality | Indiana - Debbie May |
| Neat as a Pin Award | Alaska - Virginia Walker |
| Non-finalist Talent | California - Karin Kascher Indiana - Debbie Sue May Iowa - Cheryl Adrienne Browne Minnesota - Juliana Genevieve Gabor Nevada - Vicky Jo Todd North Carolina - Cornelia Collette Lerner Rhode Island - Teresa Louise Bradley Utah - Deborah Dunn |

## Judges

* Hal David†
* Dr. Zelma George
* Bud Westmore†
* Robert F. Lewine
* Joan Crosby
* Edward Loeb
* Maria Gamarelli Fenton
* Norton Mockridge†
* Dr. W. Hugh Moomaw

## Contestants

| State | Name | Hometown | Age | Talent | Placement | Award | Notes |
| Alabama | Suzanne Dennie | Birmingham | 20 | Popular Vocal, "Alfie" | | Preliminary Talent Award | |
| Alaska | Virginia Walker | Kotzebue | 19 | Original Poem, "My Wonderland" | | Special Judges' Award Neat as a Pin Award | First Miss America contestant from the Arctic Circle |
| Arizona | Karen Shields | Tucson | 19 | Dance & Vocal Medley from My Fair Lady | | | |
| Arkansas | Donna Connelly | Hope | 19 | Vocal Medley, "Who Will Buy" from Oliver! & "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" | Top 10 | | |
| California | Karin Kascher | Castro Valley | 18 | Violin, "Méditation" | | Non-finalist Talent Award | |
| Colorado | Sue Gehrman | Fort Collins | 18 | Musical Interpretation, "Just You Wait" from My Fair Lady | | | |
| Connecticut | Cynthia Fowler | Cheshire | 21 | Classical Vocal, "The Jewel Song" from Faust | | | |
| Delaware | Linda Sue Hitchens | Seaford | 20 | Vocal/Dance, "Give My Regards to Broadway" | | | |
| Florida | Lisa Donovan | Sarasota | 21 | Vocal, "Feeling Good" | Top 10 | Preliminary Talent Award | Singer on 1980s game show Face the Music |
| Georgia | Nancy Carr | Midland | 22 | Popular Vocal, "I Wish You Love" | | | |
| Hawaii | Kathleen Puanani O'Sullivan | Kailua | 18 | Modern Dance, "Ritual Fire Dance" | | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | |
| Idaho | Noralyn Olsen | Ovid | 18 | Classical Piano, "Etude Op. 10, No. 5" | | | |
| Illinois | Lynn Alexander | Loami | 18 | Classical Vocal, "Vissi d'arte" | | | |
| Indiana | Debbie May | Remington | 21 | Semi-classical Vocal, "The Impossible Dream" | | Non-finalist Talent Award; Miss Congeniality | |
| Iowa | Cheryl Browne | Decorah | 20 | Ballet, "Deep Purple" | | Non-finalist Talent Award | First African American contestant to compete at Miss America Cheryl Adrienne Browne was a native of Jamaica, Queens, New York City, New York who attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. |
| Kansas | Linda Susan Edds | Manhattan | 21 | Popular Vocal, "The Windmills of Your Mind" | | | |
| Kentucky | Cynthia Anne Bostick | Owensboro | 18 | Vocal, "Life is a One Way Street" | | | Appeared as Marcia Campbell on As the World Turns Cynthia Anne Bostick Georgeson died at age 70 on January 24, 2023 in Racine, Wisconsin. |
| Louisiana | Carol Almand | Haynesville | 18 | Vocal, "The Wedding" | | | |
| Maine | Karen Johanna Johnson | Cumberland Foreside | 20 | Classical Vocal, "Quando me'n vo'" | 2nd runner-up | | |
| Maryland | Sharon Anne Cannon | Salisbury | 21 | Piano, "Elephant Walk" | | | |
| Massachusetts | Diana Dohrmann | Boston | 21 | Piano, "The Kid from Red Bank" by Count Basie | | | |
| Michigan | Ginger Myers | Lincoln Park | 21 | Vocal, "Wicked Man" | | | |
| Minnesota | Juliana Gabor | South St. Paul | 20 | Popular Vocal, "My Coloring Book" | | | |
| Mississippi | Christine McClamroch | Columbus | 21 | Vocal Medley, "Cabaret", "Try to Remember", & "You'll Never Walk Alone" | 3rd runner-up | | |
| Missouri | Marcia Mossbarger | Brookfield | 22 | Tap Dance, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" | | | |
| Montana | Jane Opp | Billings | 20 | Piano, Le Cavalier Fantastique by Paul Ben-Haim | | | |
| Nebraska | Debra May Sullivan | Omaha | 19 | Acrobatic Dance, "Fly Me to the Moon" | | | |
| Nevada | Vicky Jo Todd | Sparks | 20 | Vocal/Guitar, "Time" | | Non-finalist Talent Award | |
| New Hampshire | Deborah Ann Merrill | Portsmouth | 19 | Vocal/Dance, "I Want to be Happy" & "Happiness Is" | | | |
| New Jersey | Hela Yungst | Hillside | 20 | Dramatic Vocal, "Aldonza" from Man of La Mancha | | | |
| New Mexico | Janis Jones | Raton | 21 | Soft Shoe Dance, "Golden Slippers" | | | |
| New York | Katherine Karlsrud | Mamaroneck | 18 | Harp, "Whirlwind" by Carlos Salzedo | Top 10 | Dr. David B. Allman Medical Scholarship | First Allman Scholarship recipient to graduate from Medical School |
| North Carolina | Cornelia Lerner | Asheville | 18 | Piano, "Revolutionary Étude" by Chopin | | Non-finalist Talent Award | |
| North Dakota | Nancy Tangen | Northwood | 19 | Classical Vocal, "Pace pace mio dio" from La forza del destino | | | |
| Ohio | Grace Bird | Alliance | 21 | French Horn & Classical Vocal, "1st Concerto for French Horn" & "Ouvre ton Coeur" from Vasco da Gama by Georges Bizet | | | |
| Oklahoma | Judy Adams | Cushing | 20 | Violin, "The Hot Canary" arranged by Florian ZaBach | Top 10 | Preliminary Talent Award | |
| Oregon | Cynthia Lynn Harrison | Portland | 18 | Vocal & Guitar, "Just Once" | | | |
| Pennsylvania | Maggie Walker | Harrisburg | 18 | Gymnastic Ballet on Uneven Parallel Bars, "Contessa" | 4th runner-up | | |
| Rhode Island | Teresa Bradley | East Greenwich | 19 | Folk Singing & Guitar, "Chelsea Morning" | | Non-finalist Talent Award | |
| South Carolina | Claudia Carmen Turner† | Spartanburg | 19 | Vocal, "Once Upon a Time" | 1st runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | Claudia Carmen Turner Wells Bauman, died at 69 on September 24, 2021 in South Carolina. |
| South Dakota | Mary Harum | Sioux Falls | 19 | Vocal Medley, "You've Made Me so Very Happy", "Something", & "Yesterday" | Top 10 | | Former co-host of Entertainment Tonight |
| Tennessee | Carol Ferrante | Memphis | 21 | Vocal | | | |
| Texas | Phyllis George† | Denton | 21 | Piano Medley, "Promises, Promises" & "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" | Winner | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award | One of the first women sportscasters on network television as co-host of NFL Today on CBS from 1975 to 1977 and 1980 to 1983 Co-host of the 1989 & 1990 Miss America pageants with Gary Collins |
| Utah | Deborah Melba Dunn | Salt Lake City | 20 | Modern Dance, "Julia" | | | |
| Vermont | Pati Papineau | Rutland | 19 | Classical Ballet, "The Stars and Stripes Forever" | | | |
| Virginia | Jeannette Smith | Roanoke | 19 | Classical Piano, "Toccata" by Aram Khachaturian | | | |
| Washington | Nancy Peterson | Moses Lake | 19 | Original Comedy Monologue, "Once Upon a Leaf" | | | |
| West Virginia | Linda Dianne Barnett | Parkersburg | 19 | Modern Jazz Dance, "The Electric Indian" | | | |
| Wisconsin | Linda Jane Johnson | Milwaukee | 19 | Piano, "Polonaise" | | | |
| Wyoming | Jane Hutchings | Cheyenne | 19 | Piano, "Arabesque" by Claude Debussy | | | |

## Photographs

* It Happened Here in New Jersey Archived 2017-04-29 at the Wayback Machine - Contains photograph of Miss Iowa Cheryl Browne and Miss Maryland Sharon Ann Cannon in the period before the Miss America Pageant 1971 on September 8, 1970.
* Photographs taken at the MISS AMERICA U.S.O. SHOW to Vietnam in 1971