New Miss America: Illness nearly cost me the crown

The dry, desert air of Las Vegas didn’t agree with Katie Stam, and it nearly foiled her bid to become Miss America.

Stam, a 22-year-old college student from Seymour, Ind., did battle with a nasty throat infection and laryngitis to become the first Hoosier State native to claim the Miss America title in the pageant’s 88-year history Saturday. Appearing live on TODAY Monday, the brown-haired beauty revealed to Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb how close she came to not being able to compete in the pageant at all.

“I was sick during the week and a half we were out in Las Vegas for Miss America,” Stam said. “The night for preliminary talent, I was supposed to sing. I had no voice.”

Yet Stam’s voice rallied and she wowed the crowd at Vegas’s Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino with a rendition of the Christian music standard “Via Dolorosa” during the talent competition. Her performance helped carry her to a crown she said she had dreamed of since she was a little girl.

No catfights
While Gifford and Kotb wore tiaras of their own to welcome Miss America to TODAY, Stam was quick to dismiss long-held stereotypes of the tried-and-true competition being marked by backbiting and cat-fighting among the contestants. In fact, Stam says her competition included some of the best friends a young woman could have.

When she was unable to speak, much less sing, just days before the nationally televised pageant, it was the other contestants boosted her sagging spirits, Stam told Kotb and Gifford.

“Backstage, I got very emotional because I was so frustrated,” she said. “Many of the girls came over to me, and were just hugging on me and praying for me and saying, `Katie, if there’s anything we can do for you, let us know.’ They’re amazing.”

Miss America 2009 via EPA Katie Stam, Miss Indiana, was crowned Miss America 2009 by Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund Saturday night in Las Vegas. Stam, 22, is a student at the University of Indianapolis.

Indeed, in a clip of the final victory announcement that aired on TODAY, Stam appeared to be holding onto Miss California Jackie Geist for dear life. Though Gifford and Kotb ribbed Stam about the agonizing pause between “The new Miss America is...” and the final pronouncement, Stam said, “It seems even longer.” And she was happy to share the moment with her sister-in-arms from California.

“Whenever you’re standing there and holding onto this girl right next to you who you have forged such a close relationship with, it’s such a special moment,” she said.

Hitting the road
Stam made her first-ever trip to New York City to appear on TODAY, and she better get used to living out of a suitcase. According to the pageant, Stam is likely to travel some 250,000 miles during her year-long reign.

Many of her appearances around the country will center on her new role as goodwill ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network, a public service organization that raises funds and awareness for an estimated 17 million children hospitalized in some 170 children’s hospitals around the country.

Stam, who earned a $50,000 scholarship for winning the pageant, has one semester left before completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Indianapolis. While she says she is likely to delay schooling to keep up with the demands of Miss America, she jokingly told Gifford and Kotb she’s gunning for their seats once her reign is over.

“I’m studying communications with hopes of becoming you guys – I want both of your jobs,” Stam said.

Though Stam will follow the time-honored footsteps of previous Miss America winners to traditional public service appearances, Sunday’s competition was clearly not your mother’s Miss America pageant.

TODAY Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford proudly display their highly unofficial tiaras. Gifford’s sash, which she received from new Miss America Katie Stam, reads “Miss Understood.”

The ceremony moved from its traditional home in Atlantic City to Las Vegas in 2006. The competition had already retreated to cable TV from broadcast in 2004 after viewership dwindled for the network telecast. And this year, TLC — the pageant’s new home — tried to drum up more interest by jumping onto the reality-TV bandwagon, staging a four-part competition in which viewers were able to pick four contestants to be automatically passed into the round of 15 finalists.

Those viewers evidently had a keen eye: They picked Stam, along with eventual first runner-up Chasity Harmon (Miss Georgia), among the four to make the automatic cut.

Stam, bouncy and bubbly in her first full day as Miss America, left a parting gift for Gifford as she exited TODAY’s set — a Miss America-style sash proclaiming her “Miss Understood.”

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