The first African-American woman ever to win the Miss America Pageant, Williams won both the swimsuit and talent competitions at the national contest. Sadly, she was asked to resign when Penthouse magazine published sexually-explicit photos she had posed for earlier. Diane Sawyer Chosen as America's Junior Miss in 1962, Diane used her pageant scholarship money to attend Wellesley College, worked as a weathergirl, then press aide to Richard Nixon during his presidency and after his Watergate resignation. In 1981 she was named co-anchor of the CBS Morning News. Initially dismissed by some critics as an unqualified beauty queen, Sawyer earned high marks and was hired as a Sixty Minutes correspondent, co-anchor of Day One, Turning Point , and, finally, ABC's PrimeTime Live.
Sawyer ranks as one of the highest paid newswomen in television history.
Saegertown's Spring Festival Queen and 1976 Miss Crawford County. When a Miss Pennsylvania Pageant judge suggested she try modeling, she contracted with the Eileen Ford Agency and her career was launched. Stone eventually switched to acting, starring in Basic Instinct, Sliver, and Intersection, and rapidly becoming one of the highest paid actresses in film history. Later, she trademarked the role of former beauty queen as Suzanne Sugarbaker on the hit series, Designing Women, and starred in Filthy Rich and Love and Curses and All That Jazz . Delta's other pageant titles included Miss Florida Flame, Miss Veteran's Day, Miss Orlando Action Princess, and Miss All-American Girl.