May she rip

Yes, I was friends with her. She was our celebrity guest when we chaired the Red Ribbon Ball here in Naples, Florida in 2005. It was so sad. I spoke with her about 2 months before she passed. Such a lovely person, so inspiring ❤️.

Oh nooo! This is heartbreaking 💔😥

Mine too! Kimberly Aiken won Miss SC her first try and then won Miss America! The night I saw her crowned Miss SC, I was so excited but worried about her talent. She sang a different song in the Miss SC pageant but when I saw her singing “Summertime”, I knew we had a winner! Best Miss America ever!

Many of the Miss America winners I know but Kim was

Stunning 😍

Yes, there have been more 1st runners up from SC than any other state but they got it right when she was crowned.

Minnesota won Miss America and Miss USA in 1976. Arkansas won Miss America and Miss USA 1982.

I love pageant nerds I am also one anc proud of it

I remember seeing one of those signs when my husband and I drove to Myrtle Beach in '95. Kimberly was such an extraordinary Miss America.

renegade runner correct. Only 18. Up until Teresa Scanlon won as a 17 yr old at the 90th anniversary pageant, the officially recognized youngest winner - that is, who legally won in accordance to following the age requirement rules at the time of winning, was Tawny Godin in 1975, or Miss America 1976, aged 18 yrs, 1 month when she won. Marion Bergeron won at age 15 1/2 yrs as Miss America 1933, b/c she lied about her age when filing out her entrance form. This eventually lead to proof of age through birth certificate. Since there was no pageant in 1934, she was Miss America a full 2 years, longer than any others....

I do remember that she was always poised and graceful despite being so young. Very beautiful, IMO also.

You know your Miss America history!!

You know your pageant history.!

Yes she was & I watched her interview on Regis & Kathy Lee that Monday & she was the most well put together 18 year old I had ever seen on a national stage! Regis and Kathy Lee both said they they had chosen her to win during the preliminaries! They were both so happy she won & said they should have just given her the crown after the preliminaries and before the pageant! She had the highest score of any Miss America winner to date & still holds that record today!

LOL! Thank God he did not shoot you!

LO:L! Glad you didn't get shot!

I was 23 years old just out of college & I went to a “pageant party” on campus at Lander University in Greenwood, SC (I am also from SC) & we all knew we had a very special Miss SC in Kim Aiken! The party extended into 3+ dorm complexes with at least 100+ people there! When she was announced the winner, our whole party (along with other parties around us) erupted into the loudest single celebration that I have ever heard! Moments later, Lander Public Safety police showed up along with Greenwood city police who were patrolling 6 blocks away! They heard us & thought there was an emergency & showed up lights & sirens!! People ran up to them yelling “she won, Miss SC won Miss America!” They were actually very happy themselves & said we were louder than any Super Bowl party they had ever heard! She truly was the best Miss America ever & her talent, “Summertime” from “Porgy & Bess” has not been topped by any other contestant to this day!

OH, and this was the first year the same state won Miss America and Miss USA! There were signs on the border entering SC that said “Welcome to South Carolina, home of Miss America 1994, Kimberly Aiken and Miss USA, Lu Parker”.

😂😂😂

not Miss America 1994 as in the winner, but you mean the pageant's musical score that played two or three songs throughout that nights evening gown, then yes, it started for I believe the first 2, if not 3 finalists with Saving the best for last. Speaking of that black chiffon gown that Kim Aiken wears that final night for evening gown- first its NOT the white, bulkier evening gown she wore to win Miss South Carolina. And second, maybe someone can confirm this for me. But I recall reading in the papers after her win that the evening gown she wears for Miss America was an off the rack dress for next to nothing compared to what could have been spent on something har less appealing to her natural beauty and body.

You must be proud of her because I'm not related to her and I'm proud of her a beautiful talented black queen to my knowledge she never pursued a professional career in opera a happy family life is much more important

Kimberly was crowned on a Saturday night and was on Regis and Kathy Lee Monday morning and they both said they knew she had won before opening the envelope! It can be hard to guess who will win Miss America but this particular year, it was apparent as she was spectacular!!!

so?

And....

So what?

Why bring up race thing??? I guess someone had to, and you had to do it! Ugh!

@@wikoli-kuloloniele-kapalam2779 Cry me a fucking river....

Their ears are not pierced. The reason their earrings came off.

Poor Kimberly AND POOR MISS GEORGIA WHO BROKE HER EARRING BY ACCIDENT. You can tell there was no hard feelings after their embrace when Kimberly won.

It dsid seem like there was REALcamaraderie among the contestants that year!

I thought she was 18. She was attending UNC-Charlotte and was in the Miss North Carolina pageant as Miss Charlotte but didn’t win. She immediately competed for Miss South Carolina as Miss Columbia (her hometown) and won! I have always wondered if the Miss NC pageant regretted not crowning her but their loss! SC crowned her and won Miss America!

Nelsonhmhpub, me too!!! :) I heard she gave a rendition of The Jewel Song from Faust (one of my favorite arias) for the talent competition!

Titilayo Adedokun.

I agree. Miss Ohio was born in the Caribbean and adopted at birth by a couple from Ohio.

@@davidcartledge5766 Actually, Titilayo Adedeokun , Miss Ohio was born in Nashville to parents of Nigerian origin. She is married to a German man and has 3 children.

Look up the video labeled Miss America 1993 (as it was labeled 1993 instead of 1994) or look up Miss America 1994 preliminary talent competition and scroll about 32 minutes into that video.

you mean kara Martin, 1st runner up? well, not her hair, but I THINK from the way the earrings are gently made that Kim is wearing, that when Kara went to hold her nicely built, but not overly muscular arm around her, the hand or wrist hit Kim's right earring, causing the middle to break in half. just my guess.

I saw that!

Kimberly got married and moved to Ohio and recently, became a breast cancer survivor.

@kurtdublin She sat in the chair for a long, long time after being announced as 1st runner-up. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJmblb1519-6pqM.html

Not me. They made he correct choice! Miss South Carolina was the best choice.

@@renegaderunner332 Of course she was

She was Miss South Carolina 1993 but Miss America 1994. Miss America seems to be a year ahead….

Nigerian-American--that is Titi.

I'm not even going to attempt the pronunciation of the name!

You can hear the audience booing when they announce Nancy first as 4th runner up

VA was the 1st runner-up the next year: Cullen Johnson. If Cullen competed in the Miss Virginia Pageant the prior year...then, of course Nancy beat her.

how so? are you not aware that this contest is almost universally won by the prelim judges interview- 10 minutes of questions thrown at the contestants, basically putting the ladies in a situation similar to a speaking engagement and a press conference. and ability to show nerves of steel, decorum, and an almost innate ability to convey her platform. the finalist prelim interviews are never released to the public. also, back then, although there was a prelim evening gown competition, except for a few years in the early 2000's, a prelim winner has NEVER been announced, so we have no idea of those two factors: how the prelim judges felt all the contestants did in their interviews (except back then there was a prelim interview award winner for non finalists) and their evening gown. Next you would need to go back and find out exactly how much weight the total prelim composite score given counted towards the final night: I could be wrong on this, but it was at the least 25% from prelims if not 40%. Also, you may want to consider the winner did not win ANY publicly announced preliminary, the first runner up won her nights swimsuit prelim. Nancy glissen from Virginia also did not win ANY publicly prelim. (that could easily be interpreted in a number of ways, but one that comes to mind is that off the rack gown Kim wore in evening gown and that it is not a stretch at all to conclude she knocked it out with her interview).

@@Parker528 At the time, beauty counted too. GA, OH, and OR were very unattractive. There have been many winners and 1st ru's that did not win a prelim. At least they got the winner right.

@@georgerobbins3198 true. But at least for this year, the 2 categories involving "beauty" were valued/weighted on equal levels, percentagiz-wise at I believe 15% each finals night-both evening gown and what several years before (either the pageant held in 89 or 90) was renamed from it's previously known "swimsuit competition" to what it remained as "physical fitness in swimsuit" The reason behind this name change came out of concern for how many of the ladies were literally starving themselves, with often lifelong effects that stayed with them in the form of eating disorders. finally all on the coffin came when the winner of the 85 pageant from Mississippi weighed only 108 lb and was Dean's to the point of being unhealthy at a dangerous level. They instead wanted to see the ladies focus on eating well, balance nutrition along with exercise. based on that one reason alone I can almost guarantee you that that's why in fact the woman who you claim isn't that pretty Ms Georgia actually was a preliminary swimsuit winner along with Miss California that year and Miss West Virginia neither of the last two making the top 10. So out of 100 possible points final night, Max of 10% additional bonus points by judges for the on stage platform based question and answer, 15% each for both gown and lifestyle in swimsuit, 20% final night talent, and the remaining 40% being a composite score carried over from the 3 days of preliminaries, which includes that extremely important prelim interview, and the MAO has chosen to never reveal the rankings for those "job interviews" nor the scoring criteria of them. The only thing coming close to that is the non finalist prelim talent winner. Uhm. In her evening gown competition home video, there is a brief glimpse of Cara Martin from Georgia bench pressing in her gym which is quite impressive and exactly what the pageant was looking for rather than girls starving themselves or sticking to fingers down their throats to lose weight. If you saw her in the swimsuit competition I would have to agree that there was every reason to believe that she was physically fit because it's called the physical fitness and swimsuit competition it's not called the beauty swimsuit competition for that phase of this pageant. So I think you need to reconsider the use of the word beauty when you want to use the word swimsuit as far as this pageant goes. I'm not being critical otherwise if anyone's used to the word beauty I'm just trying to help explain to you that especially nowadays with the health system and healthcare crisis we have in the station I think it's far better that people are getting out and doing exercise and I'm eating wall balance to meals and being active rather than starving themselves we're sticking to fingers down their throat and throwing up to the point that they no longer have any enamel on their teeth at the pageant. Just my own opinion but I don't see that is being beauty.

I agree. Miss SC was the hands down winner but I think Miss VA should have been 1st runner up.