Sharlene Wells (born March 16, 1964) is a Paraguayan-American author, singer, and reporter from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

who was

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 ...

1985. She worked with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

from 1987 to 2002 and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Forces in 2015.

Family and early life

Hawkes (née Wells), was born in

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and spent most of her childhood in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. She was the first foreign-born, bilingual Miss America. She spent most of her teenaged years in

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. When she won the Miss America title, her parents were living in

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, a suburb of

. Being crowned Miss America was seen by some as an antidote to the scandal associated with the prior year's winner,

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. In 1985,

Deseret Book Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), th ...

published a biography of Wells, written by Sheri Dew. Hawkes is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church). She attended

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU), from which she graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in communications.

Miss America

The choice of Wells as Miss America was widely seen as a way to overcome the scandal connected with her predecessor. Wells publicly stated her support for the reelection of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

and her opposition to abortion rights, pre-marital sex, and the

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Education and career

Hawkes is the author, or co-author, of several books. This includes a book written by Hawkes and Barbara Barrington Jones entitled ''The Inside Outside Beauty Book'' (1989), ''Living in but not of The World'' (1997), and ''Kissing a Frog: Four Steps to Finding Comfort Outside Your Comfort Zone''. She is also a singer and has released albums called ''When We Will All Believe'' (1994) and ''Songs of the Morning Stars'' (1996). Hawkes holds a master's degree in integrated marketing communications from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

. Hawkes was a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

reporter with

from 1987 to 2002. Since 2007, Hawkes has worked to help veterans and their families. This includes a program to bring wives and daughters of veterans killed in the line of duty to the Miss America Pageant. In 2015 Hawkes was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Forces. As of August 2016, Hawkes is serving as executive vice president of Story Rock Electronic Publishing, and as president of its military division, Remember My Service, producing historical records for military personnel. Hawkes served as a judge for the

Miss America 2017 Miss America 2017, the 90th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Sunday, September 11, 2016. The event was broadcast by ABC in the United States, the first in the network's newest agreement to car ...

competition.

References

Sources

Knight-Ridder newspapers article on Wells

''BYU Magazine'' article on Hawkes

Sep. 17, 1984 UPI article on Wells

''Ensign'' Nov. 1984 article on Wells

''Sun-Sentinel'' article on Wells
* Haws, J. B. ''The Mormon Image in the American Mind''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. p. 155. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkes, Sharlene 1964 births Women sports commentators Latter Day Saints from Utah American television sports announcers Living people American horse racing announcers Brigham Young University alumni Tennis commentators Miss America winners College football announcers Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners American expatriates in Paraguay People from Asunción University of Utah alumni American expatriates in Chile American expatriates in Argentina American expatriates in Mexico American expatriates in Ecuador American people of Paraguayan descent