Debra Sue Maffett (born November 9, 1956) is an American beauty pageant titleholder from

Cut and Shoot, Texas Cut and Shoot is a city in eastern Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about east of Conroe and north of Houston. Until 2006, Cut and Shoot was considered and called a town. Then, the town council elected for it to be considered and refer ...

and was named

Miss America 1983 Miss America 1983, the 56th Miss America pageant, was from on the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 11, 1982 on NBC Network. Pageant winner Debra Maffett later became a television personality and producer. Results Plac ...

Early life and education

Maffett graduated from S.P.

Waltrip High School Stephen Pool Waltrip High School is a public high school located at 1900 West 34th Street in Houston, Texas, United States, 77018. Waltrip, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Waltrip has Hou ...

in Houston, Texas, in 1975.IMDB Biography of Debra Sue Maffett
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Pageantry

Although she competed in the Miss Texas pageant several years without winning, she moved to California and was subsequently crowned

Miss California The Miss California competition selects the representative for the state of California in the Miss America competition. The pageant began in Santa Cruz in 1924 and was held there in 1925. During the years 1926 through 1946 in years when the Mi ...

1982. She represented California when she won the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

crown. Some controversy arose after it was revealed that Maffett underwent nasal surgery to correct her deviated septum.

Career

Maffett served as a host on '' PM Magazine''; NBC and CBS pilots; ''Guinness Book of World Records with David Frost''; ''Alive and Well''; '' TNN Country News''; ''Hot, Hip and Country''; ''Making Healthy Choices''; and ''The Harvest Show''. In 1984, Maffett appeared as a panelist on several episodes of the ''

Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour ''The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour'' is an American television panel game show that combined two panel games of the 1960s and 1970s – '' Match Game'' and ''Hollywood Squares'' – into an hour-long format. The series ran from October 31 ...

''. Maffett appeared in the episode of '' Matlock'' that aired December 1, 1987, entitled "The Network" as news anchor Terry McNeil.

Personal life

Maffett was married to singer Buster Wilson, until his death in 2004. Wilson had a daughter, Jenny (born 1990), from a previous relationship. Maffett gave birth to a son, Rydder, in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maffett, Debra 1956 births Miss America winners Living people Miss America Preliminary Talent winners Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners People from Madison County, Texas People from Nashville, Tennessee People from Montgomery County, Texas