# Miss USA 1957

Miss USA 1957 was the sixth Miss USA pageant, held at Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California on July 17, 1957, during the run-up to the year's Miss Universe pageant.
At the end of the pageant, Mary Leona Gage of Maryland was declared the winner and was crowned by the outgoing titleholder, Miss Universe 1956 Carol Morris, of Iowa.
The following day, rumors about Gage's past and current circumstances began to circulate, and an investigation was launched by pageant organisers. It was discovered that Gage was 18 (not 21 as she had claimed), while her mother and her mother-in-law confirmed she had been married twice and was the mother of two young sons.
As all of these were violations of multiple contest eligibility rules, Gage was immediately disqualified, and the title and the associated prize package automatically passed to the 1st runner-up, Charlotte Sheffield of Utah. The other three finalists were moved one place, and the highest-scoring semi-finalist, Kathryn Gabriel of Ohio, became the 4th runner-up.
By the time the scandal broke publicly, the Miss Universe preliminary judging had already taken place, with Gage chosen as a semi-finalist, and allowed to participate pending the results of the investigation. It was too late for Sheffield to compete, and it would be the only time the United States has not been represented at the Miss Universe pageant. The 1957 Miss USA pageant is, as of 2024, the only occasion to date that the winner was stripped of her title by pageant organizers.

## Results

| Placement | Contestant |
| Miss USA 1957 | Maryland – Mary Leona Gage† (Dethroned) |
| Miss USA 1957 | Utah – Charlotte Sheffield† (Successor) |
| 1st runner-up | West Virginia – Ruth Parr |
| 2nd runner-up | Nevada – Joan Adams |
| 3rd runner-up | Nebraska – Carolyn McGirr |
| 4th runner-Up | Ohio – Kathryn Gabriel |
| Top 15 | Arkansas – Helen Garrott California – Peggy Jacobson Illinois – Marianne Gaba Iowa – Judith Hall Massachusetts – Sandra Ramsey New York – Sanita Pelkey South Carolina – Jean Spotts Texas – Gloria Hunt Washington – Diana Schafer |

## Contestants

44 contestants competed for the title.
| State/City | Contestant | Age | Hometown | Notes |
| Arkansas | Helen Garrott | 19 | West Memphis | |
| California | Peggy Jacobson | 18 | Downey | |
| Colorado | Mary Linda Clapham | 20 | Glenwood Springs | |
| Connecticut | Rosemary Galliotti | 21 | West Hartford | |
| Delaware | Patricia Ellingsworth | 18 | Millsboro | |
| Florida | Deanie Cates | 18 | Holly Hill | |
| Georgia | Ruth Lycan | 19 | Atlanta | |
| Illinois | Marianne Gaba | 18 | Chicago | Later Playboy playmate in September 1959 |
| Indiana | Pat Dorsett | 23 | Indianapolis | |
| Iowa | Judith Ann Hall | 20 | Council Bluffs | |
| Louisiana | Earlyn Regouffre | 19 | New Orleans | |
| Maine | Roberta Aymie | 23 | Jackman | |
| Maryland | Mary Leona Gage | 21 | Glen Burnie | Initially a semi-finalist at Miss Universe but was disqualified |
| Massachusetts | Sandra Ramsey | 19 | Haverhill | |
| Miami Beach, Florida | Faye Ray | 18 | Miami | |
| Michigan | Sharon Moore | 19 | Detroit | |
| Minnesota | Mary Ford | 18 | Minneapolis | |
| Missouri | Judith Murback | 18 | Sikeston | |
| Nebraska | Carolyn McGirr | 18 | Sidney | |
| Nevada | Joan Adams | 23 | Las Vegas | |
| New Hampshire | Lyla Moran | 18 | Hampton Beach | |
| New Jersey | Jeanne Lewis | 22 | Kearny | |
| New Mexico | Patricia Stafford | 18 | Albuquerque | |
| New York | Sanita Pelkey | 21 | Bronx | |
| North Carolina | Peggy Ann Dennis | 19 | Lilesville | |
| North Dakota | Anne-Marit Studness | 19 | Devils Lake | |
| Ohio | Kathryn Gabriel | 20 | Cleveland | |
| Oklahoma | Rose Mary Raab | 19 | Oklahoma City | |
| Oregon | Sonja Landsem | 20 | Portland | |
| Pennsylvania | Rosalie Culp | 20 | Monessen | |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Barbara Miller | 19 | Philadelphia | |
| Rhode Island | Myrna Altieri | 18 | Cranston | |
| South Carolina | Jean Spotts | 20 | Newberry County | |
| South Dakota | Gay Marshall | 19 | Sioux Falls | |
| St. Louis, Missouri | Carole Learn | 19 | Ferguson | |
| Tennessee | Patricia Prather | 18 | Alamo | |
| Texas | Gloria Hunt | 20 | Corpus Christi | |
| Utah | Charlotte Sheffield | 20 | Salt Lake City | Non-semifinalist at Miss World 1957 |
| Vermont | Marjorie Link | 24 | Hardwick | |
| Virginia | Patricia Bush | 21 | Portsmouth | |
| Washington | Diana Schafer | 18 | Bellevue | |
| West Virginia | Ruth Parr | 18 | St. Albans | |
| Wisconsin | Natalie Lueck | 20 | Two Rivers | |
| Wyoming | Marilyn Hawkins | 19 | Casper | |