Sharon Rene Brown (born September 1, 1943) is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1961 becoming the first

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

titleholder in history to win the pageant's Photogenic Award.

Early life

Brown is originally from

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

Waterproof Waterproofing is the process of making an object, person or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resists the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet env ...

in southern

Tensas Parish Tensas Parish () is a parish located in the northeastern section of the State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,147. It is the least populated parish in Louisiana. The parish ...

in eastern Louisiana. She moved to

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

, the

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's Capital city, capital is also seat of its governmen ...

Webster Parish Webster Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de Webster'') is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest city is Minden. As of the 2020 census, the Webster Parish population was 36,967. Pu ...

in northwestern Louisiana, in the summer of 1961 with her parents. Her father, Roy L. Brown (1921–1978) is interred at the Minden Cemetery. Her mother, Pauline "Polly" Craft-Brown (1921-2010) is interred at Mulhearn Cemetery, Hwy. 80, Monroe, Louisiana. She has twin brothers, Gary Lemoyne (1948-2006) and Larry Roy Brown (born 1948), and a younger brother, Joe Michael Brown (1956). Her grandparents were James Corbett Craft (1882 - 1974) and Lula Maranda Prine-Craft (1899-2000) both interred in the same cemetery as Polly. Brown attended

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish. She won the title of Miss Waterproof 1961 and was also Miss Louisiana Tech that year. She was a freshman at Louisiana Tech during the 1960–1961 school year. She was a high school

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

from 1958 to 1960.

Miss USA

After winning the

Miss Louisiana USA The Miss Louisiana USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Louisiana in the Miss USA pageant. Miss Louisiana USA is produced by RPM Productions since 1990, which also produces the Miss USA and Miss Teen ...

crown representing Minden, Brown captured the

crown, becoming the first Miss USA winner to obtain both the Photogenic award and Miss USA title. She was eighteen years old at the time and went on to place as fourth runner-up in

Miss Universe 1961 Miss Universe 1961 was the 10th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States on July 15, 1961. At the end of the event, Linda Bement of the United States crowned Marlene Schmidt of West Germa ...

. Celebrating Louisiana's second representative to achieve the title of Miss USA, Minden proclaimed July 25, 1961, as ''Sharon Brown Day''. She was honored with a parade, a 23-jewel wrist watch, and a $500 money order.

After Miss USA

After her Miss USA tenure ended, she pursued a free-lance modeling and television career in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1962, she was selected ''Queen of the 28th annual

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

'' in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. She appeared on

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

NBC 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 ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

program. In 1978, she was living in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

.''Minden Press-Herald'', November 27, 1978, p. 1

References

External links

Miss USA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Sharon 1943 births American cheerleaders Living people Louisiana Tech University alumni Miss Photogenic at Miss USA Miss Universe 1961 contestants Miss USA 1960s delegates Miss USA winners Actresses from Chicago People from Minden, Louisiana People from Waterproof, Louisiana