Nancy O'Dell

O'Dell was born in 1966 in Sumter, South Carolina, and moved to Myrtle Beach as an infant. She has one sister. After her 1984 graduation from the now-defunct Coastal Academy High School, she graduated with a summa cum laude bachelor's degree in marketing from Clemson University in 1990. At Clemson, O'Dell joined Kappa Kappa Gamma. She won the Miss South Carolina pageant in 1987 and represented the state at Miss America 1988, where she won a preliminary swimsuit award. In 1990, in the Miss South Carolina USA pageant, she finished first runner-up to Gina Tolleson, who became the first runner-up in Miss USA 1990 before winning Miss World that year.