Miss Universe

When it comes to the Miss Universe competition, state-pride is not the issue anymore, of course. Americans watch the Miss Universe competition to support the chosen representative of the country, regardless of which state she hailed from, hoping that she would give the country an honor in relation to womanly beauty and intelligence; obviously, what matters in this competition is showing nationalism and the pride of being an American, well, at least by supporting an elegant American lady in competing in terms of beauty, talent and sophistication against those from other countries.

But although this is the most important case at Miss Universe, it still must be pointed out here that New York has a lot more to boast for than other states when it comes to achievements in this prestigious global competition. For instance, Jacqueline Loughery, the first Miss New York and the first Miss USA went on to represent the country at the very first Miss Universe and placed ninth all-in-all. This is not bad, considering that Miss Universe in general has set a lot more categories for judgment since the competition caters to women of varying cultures and traditions. Mary Therese Friel gave the same honor to New York (and well, America as a whole) too. After winning the 1979 Miss USA, she went on to be a semifinalist at Miss Universe 1979.

It is true that the two other Miss Universe representatives of our country that hailed from New York, namely, Shanna Moakler (1995) and Kimberly Pressler (1999) did not receive the same high recognitions as those that Jacqueline Loughery and Mary Therese Friel got. But for the most part, their allure at that time holds the truth that New York is really a force to reckon with when it comes to producing ladies that are worthy to be crowned the most beautiful in the world.