Miss America 1981, the 54th

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

pageant, was held at the

Boardwalk Hall Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Built during 1926–1929, it was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of ...

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

on September 6, 1980 on

NBC Network The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. It was the first time

Ron Ely Ronald Pierce Ely (June 21, 1938 – September 29, 2024) was an American actor and novelist, best known for portraying Tarzan in the 1966–1968 NBC series ''Tarzan (1966 TV series), Tarzan'' and playing the lead role in the film ''Doc Savage: ...

hosted, replacing

Bert Parks Bert Parks (born Bertram Jacobson; December 30, 1914 – February 2, 1992) was an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer, best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979. Early life Parks was bor ...

who had hosted for 25 years. It was also historic as two black women, Lencola Sullivan of Arkansas and Doris Hayes of Washington, made the finals for the first time. The winner, Susan Powell of Oklahoma, later became co-host of the series ''Home Matters'' on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

Results

Placements

Preliminary awards

Other awards

Delegates

References

External links

Miss America official website
{{Miss America

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1981 beauty pageants 1980 in New Jersey September 1980 in the United States Organized events in Atlantic City, New Jersey