The new Miss America said allowing winners to go public with their significant others is a good way to ‘boost recruitment’ for the competition

• Abbie Stockard was crowned the new Miss America on January 5.
• A video of her boyfriend, Utah Jazz player Walker Kessler, watching her win went viral.
• Stockard told BI she thinks it’s “amazing” that Miss America no longer has an anti-boyfriend rule.

Shortly after Miss Alabama Abbie Stockard was crowned Miss America in Orlando on January 5, a video of her boyfriend’s reaction went viral.

Walker Kessler, who plays for the Utah Jazz, just happened to be in town for a game against the Magic. After Stockard won, he rushed over from the arena to her coronation.

“It’s fate because he plays over 80 games the entire season. He is in Orlando one night the entire year,” Stockard told Business Insider. “What are the odds it’s the night I’m crowned Miss America?”

The touching video has racked up more than a million views since it was shared on Bleacher Report’s TikTok on January 7. But it likely wouldn’t have been allowed when Miss America had a strict “anti-boyfriend” rule.

The unofficial policy — dictated by former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell — was explained by past winners such as Savvy Shields Wolfe and Betty Maxwell in the 2023 A&E docuseries “Secrets of Miss America.”

“It was made clear that Sam was in charge, and what he said went, and boyfriends were not allowed to exist when you’re Miss America,” Wolfe said in the series.

“They’re very, very, very anti-boyfriend because they want you to look like you’re America’s sweetheart,” said Maxwell, who won in 2015. “They’re trying to be feminist and ‘Me Too’ and all these things, and at the same time, they’re not thinking every young 20-something is dating someone? Come on.”

Haskell did not respond to previous requests for comment from BI about the docuseries.

While married women and mothers are still not permitted to compete in Miss America, there’s been a clear shift in policy.

Madison Marsh announced her engagement a week after winning the crown in January 2024. At the time, Marsh told BI that the competition had changed under Robin Fleming, who became CEO in January 2023.

“There are a lot of outdated rules that have gone away,” Marsh said. “Just because you’re engaged or in a healthy relationship doesn’t mean you’re not independent. It doesn’t mean you still can’t be a leader.”

Stockard thinks it’s an “amazing” shift for the competition.

“I’m so glad that it doesn’t really matter now because it does not affect your job as Miss America at all,” she said. “Having the Miss America team support Walker and our relationship has just made it even more special.”

The new Miss America also thinks allowing contestants to go public with their significant others is a “good way to boost recruitment” for the pageant.

“I’ve heard stories of girls who just didn’t want to compete because they were in a serious relationship, and they weren’t willing to put that relationship on hold or to hide it throughout their year,” she said. “But now it’s not like that. They don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Plus, Stockard said Kessler has been doing a great job helping her promote the Miss America Organization.

“I watched one of his media interviews with the Utah Jazz yesterday, which is always about basketball, and they didn’t ask him one basketball question; it was all about Miss America,” she said with a laugh. “He was literally using my talking points. He knows all about it.”