Miss America Statues at Oklahoma City University

Three life-sized bronze Miss Americas — Jane Jayroe (1967), Susan Powell (1981), and Shawntel Smith (1996) — stand in gowns, heels, and crowns in Kerr-McGee Centennial Plaza on the corner of a working university campus, each eternally cradling a winner's bouquet. Sculptor Shan Gray gave every one of them a tiny bronze tear rolling down her cheek, because, as he put it, you can't win Miss America and not cry. The plaza has room for up to seven more statues — OCU treats winning Miss America less like a fluke and more like a department offering — and honoree Jane Jayroe herself admitted there's something about being frozen in time that's "just kind of weird." Most people drive this corner a hundred times without ever clocking what's standing there; it reads as decorative campus bronze until you notice the tears.

The move: Walk the corner at NW 23rd and N. Blackwelder in the evening when the campus quiets down, find the tear on each statue's cheek, then slip half a block north into the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center to see the Hall of Queens — OCU's shrine to every alumna who competed but didn't win.

• 📍 Midtown & Uptown
• 💸 Free
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Outdoors

Where: NW 23rd St & N Blackwelder Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73106

Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

Verified 2026-06-09.