Miss USA 1954

Miss USA 1954 was the third Miss USA pageant, held at Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California on July 24, 1954.
At the end of the event, Myrna Hansen of Illinois crowned Miriam Stevenson of South Carolina as Miss USA 1954. It is the first victory of South Carolina in the pageant's history. Stevenson later competed at Miss Universe and won.
Contestants from forty-five states and cities competed in this year's pageant. The competition was hosted by Bob Russel.

Background

Selection of participants

Contestants from forty-five states and cities were selected to compete in the pageant. The age requirement in this edition is still from 18 to 28, where women who are married and have children can also participate. One contestant was selected to replace the original dethroned winner.
Waydine Nesbitt, runner-up to the Arkansas Maid 1954 pageant, was appointed to replace Arkansas Maid 1954 Sonya Ann McClure after giving up her crown in order to compete for the Miss Arkansas crown for Miss America.
Several contestants were disqualified due to being underaged. Barbara Ann Eschenburg of Maryland was discovered to be only 16 during the time of the contest, forcing her to withdraw as the minimum age limit of that time was 18. Ellen Whitehead of Virginia was also underage, but was discovered only after the contest. Initially, Ellen Whitehead of Virginia stayed as the first runner-up despite being underage since the placement was only considered as "honorary" according to the pageant officials. However, Dr. Richard Eschenburg, the father of Miss Maryland USA, complained to the officials as to why his daughter was disqualified for being underage while Whitehead was not; despite being underage. Whitehead was later disqualified by the pageant officials and was replaced by Karin Hultman of New York.
Elaine DuFeen of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was expected to compete in this edition. However, DuFeen dropped out of the pageant because another girl was chosen to represent her state and thought she wouldn't get an equal chance at the competition.

Pageant

Format

From twenty semi-finalists in 1953, twenty-one semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the twenty semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast. Afterwards, the twenty semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen.

Contestants

Forty-five contestants competed for the title.

State/City	Contestant	Age	Hometown	Notes
Arizona	Bonnie Johnson	18	Phoenix
Arkansas	Waydine Nesbitt	21	Magnolia
California	Sandra Constance	18	Los Angeles
Colorado	Lorna Batterson	19	Denver
Connecticut	Andrea Todd	22	Milford
District of Columbia	Laura Farley	21	Washington, D.C.
Florida	Rosemary Talucci	22	Miami Beach
Front Royal, Virginia	Carol Hammack	–	Front Royal
Illinois	Celeste Ravel	23	Chicago
Indiana	Cecilia Dennis	20	Milan
Iowa	Ione Lucken	–	Le Mars
Kansas	Sue Ravenscroft	18	Liberal
Kentucky	Nikki Horner	28	Prospect
Louisiana	Sadie Vinson	18	New Orleans	Finalist in the 1955 Miss Dixie Pageant
Maryland	Barbara Ann Eschenburg	16	Berlin	Later disqualified for being underage
Massachusetts	Nan Cowan	–	Sterling
Memphis, Tennessee	Janice Beverly Bowles	18	Memphis
Michigan	Gerri Hoffman	22	Detroit
Minnesota	Dawn Joyce	20	Minneapolis
Missouri	Alice Jean Porritt	19	Cape Girardeau
Montana	Dawn Oney	22	Billings
Nebraska	Margie Winkhoff	–	Grand Island
Nevada	Mary Jane Arnold	18	Las Vegas
New Hampshire	Myrna Louise Smith	18	–
New Jersey	Evelyn Orowitz	20	Collingswood
New York	Karin Hultman	22	New York City	Became 1st runner-up after Miss Virginia USA was disqualified. Later became Miss World United States 1954 1st runner-up at Miss World 1954
New York City, New York	Renee Roy	23	New York City
North Carolina	Ann Pickett	22	Charlotte
North Dakota	Jane Hewitt	19	Fargo
Ohio	Barbara Randa	19	Painesville
Oregon	Charlotte Miller	18	Toledo
[Miss Miss Pennsylvania USA\|Pennsylvania USA\|Pennsylvania]	Helen Vidovich	18	Beaver Valley
Pleasure Beach, Connecticut	Violet Fuchs	–	–
[Miss Miss Rhode Island USA\|Rhode Island USA\|Rhode Island]	Joyce Anne Sandberg	21	Warwick	Previously Miss Rhode Island 1953 As wife of Philip Noel, served as the First Lady of Rhode Island from 1973 to 1977.
South Carolina	Miriam Jacqueline Stevenson	20	Winnsboro	Miss Universe 1954 Previously Miss South Carolina 1953 Top 10 at Miss America 1954
South Dakota	Barbara Ann Brown	–	–
St. Louis, Missouri	Jo Ann Lynde	–	–
Tennessee	Barbara Holly	21	Nashville
Texas	Betty Lee	20	Houston
Utah	Laverna Laub	22	Salt Lake City
Vermont	Georgia Laurise	24	New Haven
Virginia	Ellen Whitehead	17	Chatham	Later disqualified due to being underage
Washington	Darlene Shride	–	–
West Virginia	Sandra Waggy	–	–
Wisconsin	Rita Delores Younger	21	Baraboo
Wyoming	Faith Radenbaugh		Heart Mountain