Miss America Update: From Wrestlers to Legislators

My very good friend, Jeff, is a devoted fan and academic expert on the world of professional wrestling. This semester I too have taken my fandom and participation in pageants to the academic level by analyzing Miss America in not one, but two classes. So you can imagine the conversations Jeff and I have!!! Okay, okay, so we have other things in common because our friendship is clearly not linked by the two tidbits I just gave! I would never, in a million years expect to find a direct link between pageants and wrestling, theoretical, yes, but literal, no!

Will wonders never cease… the photo below features Miss America, Jennifer Berry and CEO Art McMaster receiving the USO of Metropolitan Washington Legacy of Hope Award during the annual awards dinner, March 22. And who’s that in the background??? Wrestling star Mick Foley! Apparently the WWE also does a great deal of work with the USO and actually presented the MAO with this award.


Moments after sharing this photo with Jeff, he shared Mick’s freshly updated BLOG with me, on which he wrote the following about the evening and Miss America:

Wednesday was the USO of Metro Washington’s annual gala, which I have been privileged to attend for the past three years. Two years ago, I was on stage, along with Linda McMahon, Triple H and Batista to accept the groups Legacy of Hope Award on behalf of WWE. This year, I was asked, along with Ron Simmons, Chris Nowinski, Ken Kennedy and Jimmy Hart to present the same award to this year’s winner, “The Miss America Organization.” Which meant - I actually got to meet Miss America! Yes!

Actually, we did more than just meet her – she accompanied us to visit wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital. At a later time, I will write about how much these visits have meant to me over the years, but since I did promise this entry would both suck and be brief, I wouldn’t want to threaten that promise with anything resembling depth or sincerity.

So for now, I’ll just say that the hospital visits, as usual, were both sobering and uplifting and that Miss America, Jennifer Berry was extremely nice, funny, down to earth person. Oh, yeah, she also happened to be drop-dead gorgeous.

In other exciting news, Jennifer has been named the National Spokesperson for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), given the fact that her platform is “The Time to Change is Now- Building Intolerance to Drunk Driving and Underage Drinking.” Click HERE to read her platform statement.

The photo at the top of this post was taken several weeks ago by Avi Steinhardt of the Courier-Post while Jennifer spoke to students at Washington Township High School about the dangers of underage drinking. In the photo below, the new Miss Oklahoma Jennifer Warren and Miss America Jennifer Berry are introduced at their State Capitol back on February 27th. I believe they were lobbying for more stringent drunk driving laws, but I could be mistaken. (Unfortunately I know not who to give photo credit for the last two images.)