Sept. 9, 1962 - Jacqueline Jeanne Mayer, the new Miss America, was a chubby girl from Sandusky, Ohio, until she decided at the age of 16 “to do something about it.” Miss Mayer told her success story today at her first press conference since winning the title last night. She said that when she was a high school sophomore, she began to save money by skipping lunch at the school cafeteria. Then she began to skip breakfast “and was careful with my evening meal.” In high school, Miss Mayer said, she weighed 150 pounds. Now at age 20, she weighs 115 pounds. She still eats only one meal a day, and she avoids potatoes and pastries. Miss Mayer, a sophomore at Northwestern University, was an exchange student in Austria in 1959 and 1960. She said today that the food in Austria was so good “I went off my diet and gained 20 pounds.” Miss Mayer said she has no steady boyfriend. She aspires to be an actress. She went to New York City today, where she will stay at the Park Lane Hotel and make her first television appearance on the “Today” show.
