Deborah Irene Bryant, from Overland Park, Kansas, was Miss Kansas 1965 and was crowned Miss America 1966. Bryant was nineteen years old when won the preliminary swimsuit competition and, the next day, was announced as the winner of the crown.
After graduating in the top ten of her high school graduating class, Bryant went on to attend Columbia College on a full academic scholarship, during which time she represented Kansas in Atlantic City on September 11, 1965 in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant.