Miss America 1981

Miss America 1981
Date	September 6, 1980
Presenters	Ron Ely
Venue	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Broadcaster	NBC
Winner	Susan Powell Oklahoma

Miss America 1981, the 54th Miss America, pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1980 on NBC Network.

Results

• Miss America : Susan Powell (Miss Oklahoma)
• First runner-up: Paige Phillips (Miss Alabama)
• Second runner-up (tie): Donna Pope (Miss Mississippi)
• Second runner-up (tie): Therese Hanley (Miss New Jersey)
• Fourth runner-up: Lencola Sullivan (Miss Arkansas)

Semi-finalists

• Jeanne Caruso (Miss Connecticut)
• Cheryl Flanagan (Miss New York)
• Kathy Vernon (Miss Ohio)
• Terri Eoff (Miss Texas)
• Doris Hayes (Miss Washington)

Delegates

The Miss America 1981 delegates:

State	Name	Hometown	Age	Talent	Placement	Awards	Notes
Alabama	Paige Phillips	Leeds			1st runner-up	Preliminary Talent Award	Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
Alaska	Sandra Lashbrook	Eagle River
Arizona	Brenda Strong	Tempe					Plays character and narrator Mary Alice Young in the TV series Desperate Housewives
Arkansas	Lencola Sullivan	Morrilton			4th runner-up	Preliminary Swimsuit Award	*first African-American contestant to place as a runner-up at Miss America; Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
California	Robin Brooks	Elverta
Colorado	Kimberly Christiansen	Arvada				Non-finalist Talent Award
Connecticut	Jeanne Caruso	Trumbull			Top 10		sister of Miss Connecticut 1984, former wife of Joe Theisman
Delaware	Andra Lee Dickerson	Newark
Florida	Caroline Dungan	Bradenton
Georgia	Lynn Smith	Savannah
Hawaii	Kanoelehua Cook	Aiea
Idaho	Leslie Taylor	Burley
Illinois	Blythe Sawyer	Naperville				Non-finalist Talent Award
Indiana	Teri Kardatzke	Anderson
Iowa	Jane Patton	Council Bluffs
Kansas	K. Leann Folsom	Wichita
Kentucky	Daphne Cochran	Louisville
Louisiana	Martha "Missy" Crews	Baton Rouge					Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
Maine	Valerie Crooker	Brunswick					Previously Miss Maine USA 1979, currently serves as President of the Miss Maine Board of Directors
Maryland	Lisa Marie Daskal	Cumberland				Non-finalist Talent Award	Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
Massachusetts	Amy Linder	Lowell				Non-finalist Talent Award
Michigan	Heidi Hepler	Livonia
Minnesota	Debra Goodwin	Austin				Preliminary Swimsuit Award, Non-finalist Talent Award
Mississippi	Donna Pope	McNeil			2nd runner-up (tie)	Preliminary Swimsuit Award	Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
Missouri	Carla LaFevre	Harrisonville
Montana	Lilly Cruise	Miles City				Non Finalist Talent Award
Nebraska	Paula Louise Mitchell	Norfolk				Non-finalist Talent Award
Nevada	Phyllis Hamlin	Reno
New Hampshire	Diane McGarry	Manchester
New Jersey	Therese Hanley	Jersey City			2nd runner-up (tie)		TV actress and classical-crossover concert & recording artist
New Mexico	Teresa Elizabeth Anderson	Hobbs
New York	Cheryl Flanagan	Rochester			Top 10	Preliminary Talent Award
North Carolina	Janet Black	Kannapolis				Non-finalist Talent Award	Top 5 finalist in the 1980 "Maid of Cotton" pageant
North Dakota	Karen Moe	Minot
Ohio	Kathy Vernon	Youngstown			Top 10
Oklahoma	Susan Powell	Elk City			Miss America 1981	Preliminary Talent Award (tie)
Oregon	Teresa Richardson	Forest Grove				Non-finalist Talent Award
Pennsylvania	Anita Ellen Patton	Lebanon
Rhode Island	Dawn Potter	Pascoag
South Carolina	Donna Jewell	Columbia
South Dakota	Carol Barnett	Sioux Falls					Toured with Miss America USO Troupe
Tennessee	Sarah Leonard	Jonesborough
Texas	Terri Eoff	Lubbock			Top 10		actress, appeared on soap opera Search for Tomorrow
Utah	Jean Bullard	Provo
Vermont	Carole Spolar	St. Albans				Non Finalist Talent Award
Virginia	Holly Jereme	Roanoke
Washington	Doris Hayes	Tacoma			Top 10	Preliminary Talent	First African-American preliminary winner
West Virginia	Pamela Ellen Paugh	Charleston					Aunt of JonBenét Ramsey, sister of Miss West Virginia 1977
Wisconsin	Dana Spychalla	Appleton
Wyoming	Susan Pennington	Casper

External links

• Miss America official website