Miss USA 1990

Miss USA 1990
Date	March 3, 1990
Presenters	Dick Clark, Leeza Gibbons and Laura Harring
Venue	Century II Convention Center, Wichita, Kansas
Broadcaster	CBS, KWCH
Winner	Carole Gist Michigan
Congeniality	Janet Tveita
Photogenic	Stephanie Teneyck

Miss USA 1990, the 39th Miss USA pageant, was televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on March 2, 1990.

At the conclusion of the final competition, Carole Gist of Michigan was crowned by outgoing titleholder Gretchen Polhemus of Texas. Carole became the first African American winner ever and the first woman from Michigan to be crowned as Miss USA.

For the first time, the judges' individual scores were visible to the viewing audience, adding transparency to the pageant.

Also in 1990, a major format change that transformed the Miss USA competition for the next decade was introduced, in which the delegates would face an extra round of elimination on finals night: the Top 6 judges' questions.

Instead of reducing the top 12 to the usual Final 5, the judges would pick a momentary top 6. Those 6 finalists would answer questions from the judges and the field was reduced to a final 3 who would face the traditional final question, adding unpredictability to the competition after 5 Texan Miss USA winners from GuyRex Associates, who would lose their Miss Texas USA franchise the next year.

The pageant was hosted by Dick Clark for the second of five times, with color commentary by Leeza Gibbons and Laura Harring, Miss USA 1985.

This was the first time the pageant was held in Wichita, where it would be staged for the next four years.

Results

Placements

Map showing placements by state

• Miss USA 1990: Carole Gist (Michigan)
• The runners-up were:
  • 1st runner-up: Gina Tolleson (South Carolina)
  • 2nd runner-up: Karin Hartz (New Jersey)

• The other top six finalists were (in alphabetical order): Karin Meyer (Alaska), Brenda Leithleiter (Georgia) and Tiffany Tenfelde (Kentucky).

• The remaining semi-finalists were (in order of placement): Catherine Staples (District of Columbia), Charita Moses (Tennessee), Stephanie Kuehne (Texas), Karla Myers (Illinois), Stephanie Teneyck (Mississippi), Melissa Proctor (Ohio)

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Janet Tveita (Minnesota)
• Miss Photogenic: Stephanie Teneyck (Mississippi)

Historical significance

• Carole Gist was Michigan's first placement since 1983 and went on to win the title.
• New Jersey placed second runner-up for the second consecutive year, a record for the state.
• This was Alaska's fourth placement ever, and their first since 1978.
• Kentucky placed for the first time since 1982.
• Georgia placed for the sixth consecutive year, with top six placements or higher every year.
• This was District of Columbia's first placement since 1984. District of Columbia would not place again until 2001.
• Illinois placed for the seventh consecutive year.
• Texas had a semifinalist for the sixteenth and last year in succession. The state would not place in 1991.
• Mississippi recorded their fourth placement in five years, a record for the state. They did not place again until 2005.
• Ohio placed for the first time since Halle Berry was first runner-up in 1986. The state did not place again until 1999.

Gina Tolleson went on to represent USA at Miss World which she won. Carole Gist represented USA at Miss Universe 1990 where she finished runner-up to Norway's Mona Grudt. If Carole had won Miss Universe, Miss South Carolina, Gina Tolleson would have become Miss USA and Miss New Jersey, Karin Hartz, would have gone on to represent the USA at the Miss World Pageant.

Scores

Preliminary competition

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

State Interview Swimsuit Evening gown Average Alabama 7.633 7.639 8.148 7.807 Alaska 8.939 8.022 8.021 8.327 Arizona 7.956 7.547 7.698 7.734 Arkansas 7.482 7.241 7.992 8.040 California 8.372 7.709 8.378 8.153 Colorado 8.311 7.778 7.888 7.992 Connecticut 7.406 7.427 7.577 7.470 Delaware 8.128 7.584 8.411 8.041 District of Columbia 8.187 8.358 8.088 8.211 Florida 7.867 8.220 8.088 8.058 Georgia 8.944 8.217 8.329 8.497 Hawaii 6.094 7.673 7.672 7.146 Idaho 7.561 7.036 7.239 7.279 Illinois 8.317 8.294 8.372 8.328 Indiana 8.717 7.438 7.644 7.933 Iowa 7.600 7.700 7.327 7.542 Kansas 8.078 8.167 8.350 8.198 Kentucky 8.733 8.383 8.338 8.485 Louisiana 8.044 8.094 7.848 7.995 Maine 7.678 7.620 7.322 7.540 Maryland 8.121 7.868 7.872 7.954 Massachusetts 7.638 7.180 7.287 7.368 Michigan 8.481 8.303 8.649 8.478 Minnesota 7.871 7.948 7.783 7.867 Mississippi 8.316 8.271 8.161 8.249 Missouri 8.449 8.009 7.861 8.106 Montana 7.250 7.004 6.987 7.080 Nebraska 8.304 7.123 7.326 7.584 Nevada 8.000 7.861 7.947 7.936 New Hampshire 7.744 7.411 7.423 7.526 New Jersey 8.711 7.753 8.306 8.257 New Mexico 7.472 7.367 7.437 7.425 New York 8.444 8.140 7.928 8.171 North Carolina 7.561 7.556 7.546 7.554 North Dakota 8.139 7.444 7.809 7.797 Ohio 8.244 8.294 8.544 8.361 Oklahoma 8.144 8.150 7.989 8.094 Oregon 8.128 7.290 6.833 7.417 Pennsylvania 7.944 7.552 7.806 7.767 Rhode Island 7.080 7.643 7.428 7.384 South Carolina 8.589 8.314 8.641 8.515 South Dakota 7.233 7.604 7.249 7.362 Tennessee 8.526 8.186 8.614 8.442 Texas 8.156 8.310 8.279 8.248 Utah 8.722 7.838 7.606 8.055 Vermont 7.267 7.256 6.983 7.169 Virginia 8.310 8.189 7.622 8.040 Washington 7.817 7.960 7.700 7.826 West Virginia 7.894 7.706 8.022 7.874 Wisconsin 8.028 7.670 7.589 7.762 Wyoming 7.650 8.012 8.128 7.930

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Top 6 Finalist      Top 12 Semifinalist

Final competition

Country Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Michigan 9.261 9.364 9.489 9.371 New Jersey 9.344 9.206 9.414 9.321 Alaska 9.111 9.322 9.218 9.217 Kentucky 8.981 9.100 9.289 9.123 South Carolina 8.848 9.139 9.259 9.082 Georgia 8.683 9.325 9.100 9.036 District of Columbia 8.577 9.078 9.157 8.937 Tennessee 8.739 8.903 9.023 8.888 Texas 8.922 8.839 8.869 8.876 Illinois 8.622 8.772 9.176 8.856 Mississippi 8.574 8.694 8.792 8.686 Ohio 8.481 8.370 8.746 8.532

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Top 6 Finalist

Delegates

The Miss USA 1990 delegates were:

Alabama - Natalie Moore Alaska - Karin Meyer Arizona - Lezlie Leonard Arkansas - Kathryn Harris California - Cynthia Nelson Colorado - Michelle Harrison Connecticut - Allison Barbeau-Diorio Delaware - Nicci Dent District of Columbia - Catherine Staples Florida - Tricia Hahn Georgia - Brenda Leithleiter Hawaii - Leimomi Bacalso Idaho - Cindy Estey Illinois - Karla Myers Indiana - Meri Lyn Buker Iowa - Elizabeth Muelhaupt Kansas - Rebecca Porter Kentucky - Tiffany Tenfelde Louisiana - Jeanne Burns Maine - Leigh Bubar Maryland - Julie Stanford Massachusetts - Laureen Murphy Michigan - Carole Gist Minnesota - Janet Tveita Mississippi - Stephanie Teneyck Missouri - Lori Suschnick

Montana - Kimberlee Burger Nebraska - Angela Humphrey Nevada - Michelle Yegee New Hampshire - Lisa Parnpichate New Jersey - Karin Hartz New Mexico - Larissa Canaday New York - Patricia Murphy North Carolina - Altman Allen North Dakota - Kari Larson Ohio - Melissa Proctor Oklahoma - Lauralynn Norton Oregon - Elizabeth Michaud Pennsylvania - Elizabeth Cebak Rhode Island - Susan Lima South Carolina - Gina Tolleson South Dakota - Valerie Sejnoha Tennessee - Charita Moses Texas - Stephanie Kuehne Utah - Debra Linn Vermont - Stephanie Bessey Virginia - Evelyn Green Washington - Melissa Dickson West Virginia - Sabrina Anderson Wisconsin - Lynn Mulcahy Wyoming - Cheryl James

Crossovers

1990 was the year with the smallest number of crossover contestants since 1986.

• Only three delegates had previously competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant:
  • Julie Stanford (Maryland) - Miss Maryland Teen USA 1986
  • Kari Larson (North Dakota) - Miss North Dakota Teen USA 1984 (Semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 1984)
  • Allison Barbeau-Diorio (Connecticut) - Miss Connecticut Teen USA 1987

• No former Miss America delegates competed for the second year in a row.

• Gina Tolleson later won Miss World 1990.

References

External links

• Official website