September 8, 1921: The 1st Miss America Pageant

September 8, 1921: The 1st Miss America Pageant is held at Atlantic City, New Jersey. The winner is Margaret Gorman, a 16-year-old native of Washington, D.C. She is still the only Miss America winner who did not come from an actual State.

Gorman was a junior at Western High School in Washington when her photo was entered into a popularity contest at the Washington Herald. She was chosen as Miss District of Columbia on account of her athletic ability, past accomplishments, and outgoing personality.

As a result of that victory, she was invited to join the Second Annual Atlantic City Pageant held on September 8, 1921, as an honored guest. There she was invited to join a new event: the "Inter-City Beauty" Contest. She won the titles "Inter-City Beauty, Amateur" and "The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America" after competing in the Bather's Revue. She won the grand prize, the Golden Mermaid trophy. She was expected to defend her positions the next year, but someone else had attained the title of "Miss Washington, D.C.," so she was instead crowned as "Miss America."

A tradition was born. The Pageant would later be limited to unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 28. The contest is now judged on these competition segments with the following scoring percentages:

* Private Interview (30 percent), a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges.

* On Stage Question (10 percent), answering of a judge's question while onstage.

* Talent or HER Story (20 percent), a performance talent or 90 second speech.

* Health and Fitness (20 percent), in which contestants demonstrate physical fitness onstage while dressed in athletic wear. And:

* Evening Gown (20 percent), in which contestants model evening-wear onstage.

In 1950, the "year" of Miss America was moved to the following year, since the Pageant was usually held during Labor Day weekend, with the majority of the year having already passed. So there was no Miss America 1950. The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the Pageant, so there was no Miss America 2021.

Among the more prominent winners have been Bess Myerson, 1945, the 1st Jewish winner and later a well-known consumer advocate; Lee Meriwether, 1955, later a prominent actress; Mary Ann Mobley, 1959, also an actress; Phyllis George, 1971, later part of CBS' studio team on The NFL Today, and in 1989 and 1990 the 1st female host of the Pageant; Kaye Lanie Rae Rafko, 1988, the 1st Asian winner; and Heather Whitestone, 1995, the 1st winner with a disability (she was deaf). There has never been an openly gay Miss America, and not until Erin O'Flaherty in 2016 was there even an openly gay contestant.

In 1984, Vanessa Williams became the 1st black winner. But she also had to become the 1st winner to resign her crown, due to a scandal that no longer matters. Oddly, the runner-up who took her place was also black: Suzette Charles, from Mays Landing, New Jersey, just a few miles from Atlantic City. Williams would go on to become a big singing and acting star, and most people have forgotten that she was ever Miss America, let alone why she had to stop. In 2015, all seemed to be forgiven, when Williams was invited to be the Pageant's head judge.

New York has had the most winners, 7. Right behind, with 6, are California, Ohio and Oklahoma. There is often seen to be a bias against candidates from New England: Connecticut has had only 1 winner, and the remaining New England States -- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island -- have none between them. Other States with none: Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Washington West Virginia and Wyoming.

The Pageant was first televised in 1954, on NBC, and that network has usually broadcast it ever since. Bert Parks hosted the Pageant every year from 1955 to 1979, until he was infamously fired. After the crowning of the new winner, he would sing, "There she is, Miss America! There she is, your ideal!" Other notable hosts included Bob Russell (1940-54), Gary Collins (1982-90, and married to Mobley), Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford (1991-95), Donny and Marie Osmond (1999 and 2000), Tony Danza (2001), and Wayne Brady (2002).

On a 1978 episode of Match Game, there was a question about a man's girlfriend: "From the back, she looks like Miss America. From the front, she looks like (blank)." Panelist Richard Dawson said, "Bert Parks." Meriwether and Mobley both served as semi-regular panelists on Match Game.

The Pageant was subjected to a feminist protest in 1968, as women through various things connected with traditional womanhood into a trash can on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The objects were not, however, set on fire. Somewhere down the line, this action and the burning of men's draft cards during the Vietnam War became conflated as "women burning their bras."

From 2005 to 2013, the Pageant was held in Las Vegas, which had preceded Atlantic City as a legal gambling center. It then moved back to Atlantic City.

Margaret Gorman later said: "I never cared to be Miss America. It wasn't my idea. I am so bored by it all. I really want to forget the whole thing." In 1925, she married Victor Cahill, and was married until he died in 1957. She lived all her life in Washington, became a socialite and enjoyed traveling. She died on October 1, 1995, aged 90.

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September 8, 1921 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Babe Ruth hit his 53rd home run of the season. He would finish with 59. But pitcher Tom Rogers melted down in the bottom of the 9th, allowing 2 runs.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Philadelphia Phillies won the opener, 8-6. The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 13-2.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 15-1 at League Park in Cleveland. Tiger player-manager Ty Cobb went 3-for-6 with 3 RBIs. Indian player-manager Tris Speaker went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 at Cubs Park (later renamed Wrigley Field) in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. George Sisler went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Eddie Collins went 0-for-2 with a walk.

 And the New York Giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.