Miss USA 1991


Miss USA 1991, the 40th Miss USA pageant, was televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on February 22, 1991. At the conclusion of the final competition, Kelli McCarty of Kansas was crowned by outgoing titleholder Carole Gist of Michigan. Kelli became the first titleholder from Kansas and only the 3rd winner to be crowned as Miss USA in her home state.
The pageant was hosted by Dick Clark for the third of five years, with color commentary by Barbara Eden for the only time and Miss USA 1970 Deborah Shelton for the first time.
This was the second of four years that the pageant was held in Wichita, Kansas.
This year was the first time that introduced the delegates in region by region and one by one in the Parade of States. The regions are The Midwest, The South, The Northeast, The Northwest, and The Southwest.
This year was also the last year that the 1st Runner-Up would go onto represent the US at Miss World as the Miss World Organization from this point forward stop accepting 1st Runner-Ups from Miss USA due to the pageant not making a public announcement that the 1st Runner-Up was going to compete at Miss World. Starting in 1992, a separate pageant would be held to determine the US delegate for Miss World.

Results

Placements

Final resultsContestant
Miss USA 1991
  • Kansas – Kelli McCarty
1st Runner-UpMiss World USA 1991
2nd Runner-Up
  • California – Diane Schock
    • Top 6
  • Illinois – Lisa Morgan
  • Oklahoma – Julie Khoury
  • North Carolina – Pat Arnold
    • Top 11
  • Alabama – Candice Carley
  • Arizona – Maricarroll Verlinde
  • Hawaii – Kym Digmon
  • New York – Maureen Murray
  • Oregon – Olga Calderon

    • Special awards

    Historical significance

    Preliminary competition

    The following are the contestants' scores in the preliminary competition.
    StateInterviewSwimsuitEvening gownAverage
    Alabama8.338.038.388.247
    Alaska7.867.277.647.590
    Arizona8.307.968.338.197
    Arkansas8.967.677.768.130
    California8.308.348.398.343
    Colorado7.916.977.517.463
    Connecticut7.707.778.137.867
    Delaware8.297.247.747.757
    District of Columbia7.708.198.107.997
    Florida8.637.578.318.170
    Georgia8.267.307.717.757
    Hawaii7.798.508.848.377
    Idaho8.467.198.388.010
    Illinois8.578.178.198.310
    Indiana8.297.437.917.877
    Iowa7.977.907.747.870
    Kansas8.778.178.318.417
    Kentucky7.938.167.817.967
    Louisiana7.917.638.037.857
    Maine7.607.967.597.717
    Maryland8.337.577.867.920
    Massachusetts7.997.407.307.563
    Michigan8.098.308.148.177
    Minnesota8.047.697.277.667
    Mississippi8.097.738.318.043
    Missouri7.647.707.857.730
    Montana7.667.417.247.437
    Nebraska8.137.397.727.747
    Nevada8.207.537.087.603
    New Hampshire8.268.147.908.100
    New Jersey8.668.177.948.257
    New Mexico8.067.767.417.743
    New York8.648.138.248.337
    North Carolina8.408.237.948.190
    North Dakota8.237.897.938.017
    Ohio8.277.197.377.610
    Oklahoma8.178.568.448.390
    Oregon8.638.068.008.230
    Pennsylvania8.497.678.008.053
    Rhode Island7.866.897.337.360
    South Carolina7.777.878.067.900
    South Dakota8.078.127.918.033
    Tennessee7.808.478.258.173
    Texas8.097.567.537.727
    Utah8.537.868.158.180
    Vermont8.137.317.607.680
    Virginia8.577.887.778.073
    Washington8.207.477.577.747
    West Virginia8.047.697.667.797
    Wisconsin8.067.537.937.840
    Wyoming7.767.217.357.440

    Final competition

    StateInterviewSwimsuitEvening GownAverage
    Kansas9.357 9.084 9.450 9.297
    New Jersey9.464 8.896 9.243 9.201
    California9.284 8.943 9.436 9.221
    North Carolina9.214 8.829 9.257 9.100
    Oklahoma9.241 8.830 9.214 9.095
    Illinois9.271 8.733 9.243 9.082
    New York9.150 8.586 9.433 9.056
    Alabama9.121 8.800 9.236 9.052
    Hawaii8.929 8.874 9.314 9.039
    Arizona8.808 8.714 9.243 8.921
    Oregon8.686 8.900 9.143 8.909

    Delegates

    The Miss USA 1991 delegates were: