Yolande Betbeze

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Yolande Betbeze

Yolande Betbeze (born 1929 in Mobile, Alabama) was Miss America in 1951.

Betbeze entered Miss Alabama for the scholarship opportunities the pageant presented. Having been educated in a convent school, she was reluctant to pose in a swimsuit and refused to do so after she won Miss America.

That led the swim suit company, Catalina, to withdraw their sponsorship of the Miss America pageant and eventually brought about the creation of the rival Miss USA pageant.

The Miss America Organization has claimed that Betbeze's actions were pivotal in directing pageant progress towards recognizing intellect, values, and leadership abilities, rather than focusing on beauty alone. From then on the Miss America pageant concentrated more on scholarship than beauty.

Betbeze was an opera singer and did gain a reputation in that area. She was occasionally seen "dating" baseballer Joe Dimaggio, although it was later revealed they were only close friends. ^[1] She married Matthew Fox, and they had one daughter. After Fox's death, she moved to Georgetown, Washington, D.C. where she was part of a fun-loving and elite crowd called "The Swing Set".^{[citation needed]} She is currently linked to Cherif Guellal through common law marriage. Betbeze has been active in the feminist movement.