Miss USA 1994

Miss USA 1994
Date	February 11, 1994
Presenters	Bob Goen, Arthel Neville and Laura Harring
Entertainment	Doug Stone
Venue	South Padre Island, Texas
Broadcaster	CBS
Winner	Lu Parker South Carolina
Congeniality	Denise White
Photogenic	Patricia Southall

Miss USA 1994, the 43rd Miss USA pageant, was televised live from the South Padre Island Convention Centre on South Padre Island, Texas on 11 February 1994. At the conclusion of the final competition, Lu Parker of South Carolina was crowned by outgoing titleholder Kenya Moore of Michigan.^[1]

The pageant was hosted by Bob Goen for the first of three years, with color commentary by Arthel Neville and a special guest appearance by Laura Harring, Miss USA 1985. Entertainment was provided by Doug Stone.

Host city

This was the first of three consecutive years that the pageant was held on South Padre Island. The announcement that the pageant would be held there was made on 11 August 1993.^[2]

Contestants arrived on January 27 for two weeks of events and preliminary competitions before the final telecast. This included a dinner event in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, put on by the mayor and city officials, which became an issue when rebel activity on the United States-Mexican border led to fears for the contestants' safety. The city had contributed more than $100,000 to South Padre's bid to host the pageant, fundraising that was mirrored by other cities in the Rio Grande Valley.^[3]

Results

Placements

Map showing placements by state

• Miss USA 1994: Lu Parker (South Carolina)
• The runners-up were:
  • 1st runner-up: Patricia Southall (Virginia)
  • 2nd runner-up: Lynn Jenkins (North Carolina)

• The other top six finalists were (in order of placement): Shirelle Lea Hebert (Louisiana), Christine Friedel (Texas) and Jennifer Gareis (New York).

• The remaining semi-finalists were (in order of placement): Kathleen Farrell (Illinois), Shelly Lehman (Missouri), Leah Hulan (Tennessee), Jolene Stavrakis (Minnesota), Carol Hovenkamp (Kansas), Nadine Tanega (Hawaii)

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Denise White (Oregon)
• Miss Photogenic: Patricia Southall (Virginia)

Scores

Preliminary competition

The following are the contestants' scores in the preliminary competition.

State Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Alabama 8.81 8.78 8.87 8.820 Alaska 8.51 8.01 7.98 8.167 Arizona 8.98 8.28 8.49 8.583 Arkansas 8.99 8.65 8.69 8.777 California 9.18 8.12 8.36 8.553 Colorado 8.73 8.48 8.59 8.600 Connecticut 8.96 8.32 8.80 8.693 Delaware 9.07 8.63 9.12 8.940 District of Columbia 9.23 8.45 8.91 8.863 Florida 8.89 8.42 8.69 8.667 Georgia 9.49 8.51 8.88 8.960 Hawaii 9.16 8.94 9.04 9.047 Idaho 8.83 7.96 8.28 8.357 Illinois 9.44 8.64 9.11 9.063 Indiana 9.07 8.50 8.44 8.670 Iowa 9.30 8.16 8.71 8.723 Kansas 9.25 9.03 8.99 9.090 Kentucky 9.01 8.13 8.70 8.613 Louisiana 9.40 9.17 9.34 9.303 Maine 9.04 8.30 8.53 8.623 Maryland 9.08 8.62 8.66 8.787 Massachusetts 8.84 8.34 8.59 8.590 Michigan 8.91 8.39 8.46 8.587 Minnesota 9.13 9.08 9.17 9.127 Mississippi 9.11 8.49 8.66 8.753 Missouri 8.74 8.98 9.26 8.993 Montana 8.76 8.41 8.56 8.577 Nebraska 8.95 8.26 8.53 8.580 Nevada 8.50 8.84 8.63 8.657 New Hampshire 8.46 8.54 8.86 8.620 New Jersey 8.63 8.80 8.94 8.790 New Mexico 8.62 8.83 8.76 8.737 New York 9.14 9.23 9.25 9.207 North Carolina 9.38 8.88 8.98 9.080 North Dakota 8.83 7.95 8.22 8.333 Ohio 8.62 8.21 8.44 8.423 Oklahoma 8.71 8.83 8.87 8.803 Oregon 9.02 8.04 8.24 8.433 Pennsylvania 9.00 8.52 8.94 8.820 Rhode Island 8.79 8.77 8.82 8.793 South Carolina 9.68 9.30 9.40 9.460 South Dakota 8.71 8.35 8.37 8.477 Tennessee 9.20 8.82 9.26 9.093 Texas 9.38 8.87 9.23 9.160 Utah 9.18 8.30 8.69 8.723 Vermont 8.96 8.24 8.57 8.590 Virginia 9.53 9.04 9.20 9.257 Washington 8.67 8.04 8.52 8.410 West Virginia 8.95 8.52 8.94 8.803 Wisconsin 9.00 9.05 8.74 8.930 Wyoming 8.99 7.97 8.49 8.483

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Finalist      Semi-finalist

Final competition

Country Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Finalists Virginia 9.843 9.635 9.851 9.776 9.813 North Carolina 9.454 9.301 9.569 9.441 9.763 South Carolina 9.626 9.460 9.870 9.652 9.675 Louisiana 9.539 9.613 9.683 9.612 9.650 Texas 9.489 9.354 9.699 9.514 9.575 New York 9.561 9.548 9.626 9.578 9.225 Illinois 9.460 9.288 9.484 9.411 Missouri 9.320 9.318 9.508 9.382 Tennessee 9.300 9.234 9.439 9.324 Minnesota 9.290 9.241 9.421 9.317 Kansas 9.191 9.176 9.375 9.247 Hawaii 9.229 9.096 9.345 9.223

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Finalists

Historical significance

• This was the first year that all the RPM Productions states (Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina) made the semi-finals. North and South Carolina made the top three.
• New York placed for the second consecutive year, the first time this had happened since 1979-1980.
• Kansas placed for the fourth consecutive year, a record which has not yet been surpassed.
• North Carolina equalled their previous highest placement, which had been achieved in 1975.
• Missouri placed for the first time since 1987, and Minnesota for the first time since 1980.

Delegates

The Miss USA 1994 delegates were:

Alabama - Melaea Nelms Alaska - Dawn Stuvek Arizona - Jennifer Tisdale Arkansas - Hannah Hilliard California - Toay Foster Colorado - Kimberly Veldhuizen Connecticut - Mistrella Egan Delaware - Teresa Kline District of Columbia - Angela McGlowan[4] Florida - Cynthia Redding Georgia - Andrea Moore Hawaii - Nadine Tanega Idaho - Trenna Wheeler Illinois - Kathleen Farrell Indiana - Kim Scull Iowa - Callie Pandit Kansas - Carol Hovenkamp Kentucky - Kim Buford Louisiana - Shirelle Hebert[5] Maine - Colleen Brink Maryland - Michelle Atamian Massachusetts - Michelle Atamian[6] Michigan - Kelly Richelle Pawlowski Minnesota - Jolene Stavrakis Mississippi - Leslie Lynn Jetton Missouri - Shelly Lehman

Montana - Kelly Brown Nebraska - Shawn Wolff[7] Nevada - Angela Lambert[8] New Hampshire - Kelly Zarse New Jersey - Rosa Velez New Mexico - Jill Vasquez New York - Jennifer Gareis North Carolina - Lynn Jenkins North Dakota - Amy Jane Lantz Ohio - Lisa Michelle Allison Oklahoma - Angela Parrick Oregon - Denise White[9] Pennsylvania - Linda Chiaraluna Rhode Island - Raye Anne Johnson South Carolina - Frances Louise "Lu" Parker South Dakota - Tabitha Moude Tennessee - Leah Hulan[10] Texas - Christine Friedel[11] Utah - Vanessa Munns Vermont - Christy Beltrami Virginia - Patricia Southall[12] Washington - Angel Ward West Virginia - Linda Bailey Wisconsin - Gina Desmond Wyoming - Tolan Clark

Contestant notes

• Kathleen Farrell (Illinois) had previously held the Miss Illinois 1992 title and won a non-finalist talent award in the Miss America 1993 pageant. One of her sisters Monica Farrell also competed in both pageants, holding the Miss Florida 1985 and Miss Florida USA 1988 titles, and she placed third runner-up at Miss USA 1988. Their other sister Mary-Ann Farrell was Miss New York 1984 and was a semi-finalist at Miss America 1985.
• Leah Hulan (Tennessee) also competed at Miss America 1993, as she was previously Miss Tennessee 1992.
• Delegates who had previously competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant were:
  • Christy Beltrami (Vermont) - Miss Vermont Teen USA 1987
  • RayeAnne Johnson (Rhode Island) - Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1987
  • Jill Vasquez (New Mexico) - Miss New Mexico Teen USA 1988
  • Tabitha Moude (South Dakota) - Miss South Dakota Teen USA 1991
• Jill Vasquez (New Mexico) became one of the directors of the Miss California USA pageant in 2007.
• Jolene Stravrakis (Minnesota) placed first runner-up the Miss Minnesota USA 1988, and briefly held the title after the winner was arrested for shoplifting. She resigned days later when it was revealed she too had been arrested for shoplifting in 1986. In 1994 she won the title in her own right in her last year of eligibility after her criminal record was expunged.^[13]
• Amy Jane Lantz (North Dakota) appeared as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, which originally aired March 10, 1995.
• This was the last year until 2009 that no former Miss Teen USA state titleholder managed to place.
• Jennifer Gareis (New York) went onto play Donna Logan in The Bold and the Beautiful. She also made a brief cameo in Miss Congeniality as the lover of a Miss United States contestant who shouts from the audience.
• Pat Southall (Virginia) went on to marry Bad Boys actor Martin Lawrence.

References

1. ^ "Miss South Carolina Crowned Miss USA". The Associated Press. 1994-02-11. 
2. ^ "Padre Island to host Miss USA Pageant". Austin American-Statesman. 1993-08-11. p. B4. 
3. ^ "Miss USA event hushed Matamoros officials' concerns over rebel situation cited". The Dallas Morning News. 1994-01-12. 
4. ^ Staggs, Jeffrey (1994-02-07). "District's entry in Miss USA sets sights on Capitol". The Washington Times. 
5. ^ Landry, Julie (1994-02-10). "Beautiful dreamer: hard work fuels quest for title". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. 
6. ^ "Belmont woman wins Miss Mass. crown". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. 1993-11-29. 
7. ^ "Miss Nebraska USA Crowned". The Omaha World-Herald. 1993-10-18. 
8. ^ White, Ken (1994-02-02). "Miss Nevada willing to take risks". The Las Vegas Review-Journal. 
9. ^ "Lake Oswegan claims crown". Portland Oregonian. 1993-06-01. 
10. ^ "Leah Hulan crowned Miss Tennessee USA". Business Wire. 1993-11-03. 
11. ^ Martinez, Monica (1993-07-28). "Miss El Paso wins pageant". Austin American-Statesman. 
12. ^ "Wilder aide is '94 Miss Virginia USA". Roanoke Times & World News. 1993-10-04. 
13. ^ Blake, Laurie (1993-11-11). "Miss Minnesota USA reaches crown and glory again // Five years ago she had to forfeit her title". Star-Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Mpls.-St. Paul. p. 03B. 

External links

• Official website