The Miss Texas competition was founded in 1937 as a scholarship contest for young women. The winner represents Texas in the Miss America pageant; three winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America (but none since 1975).
To become Miss Texas, a contestant must first win a local competition. A young woman may compete at the local and state level more than once, but may only compete in the national Miss America competition one time. Hundreds of women participate each year in the local pageants, culminating in the selection of local finalists who compete for the Miss Texas title each July. The state pageant was held in Fort Worth for 36 years before relocating to the University of Texas at Arlington's Texas Hall in 2009. In 2012, the pageant moved to the Allen Event Center in suburban Collin County.[1] In 2014 the Miss Texas pageant began being held at the Eisemann Center for Performing Arts in Richardson, Texas.[2]
In 2010, Miss Texas celebrated its 75th anniversary, and Randy Pruett wrote a book, A Dream as Big as Texas, to document the stories of the 75 women that were crowned Miss Texas.[3]
The following is a visual summary of the past results of Miss Texas titleholders at the national Miss America pageants/competitions. The year in parentheses indicates the year of the national competition during which a placement and/or award was garnered, not the year attached to the contestant's state title.
Top 10: Mary Nell Hendricks (1959), Susan Logan (1967), Judy Mallett (1974), Mary Ellen Richardson (1976), Lori Smith (1978), Sandi Miller (1979), Terri Eoff (1981), Dana Rogers (1984), Stephany Samone (1987), Rita Jo Thompson (1988), Leah Kay Lyle (1990), Rhonda Morrison (1992), Arian Archer (1995), Michelle Martinez (1997), Tara Watson (2001), Mary Lisa Dalzell (2003), Jamie Story (2005), Morgan Matlock (2006), Kristen Blair (2010), Kendall Morris (2012), DaNae Couch (2013), Ivana Hall (2014), Shannon Sanderford (2016), Mallory Fuller (2021)
Top 12: Ashley Melnick (2011)
Top 13: Polly Below (1945)
Top 15:Rosebud Blondell (1926), Patricia Allen Green (1936), Charmayne Smith (1939), Chandler Foreman (2019/2020)
Top 16: Margaret Sommers (1951), Monique Evans (2015)
In the long-running television series Dallas, the character Sue Ellen Ewing had purportedly won the title of Miss Texas in 1967, long before the events of the show took place (1978–91).[76]
The song "Almost" by the band Bowling for Soup features the line, "I almost dropped out of school at fourteen where I almost made out with the Homecoming Queen, who almost went on to be Miss Texas, but lost to a slut with much bigger breasts."[citation needed]
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