Montana Steele Miss Texas 2002 Revisited-A Hall of Fame Tribute

Montana Steele Miss Texas: Journey from behind to become Miss Texas at Club Maximus. Relive her story and see why she's still turning heads today

Montana Steele winning M.S. Texas

By Jack Corbett

Several years ago, Montana Steele surged from behind to become M.S. Texas at Club Maximus. Today she's as hot as ever

A true champion never quits, always giving 100 percent until the final bell has tolled. Then off the court, out of the gym, or in the case of a feature entertainer off the stage, the real champions continue to click on all six cylinders, being forever as reliable as the rising sun, as they hold their heads up high knowing all too well they have a standard lesser mortals will try to follow. One year--and even two years after she won the M.S. Texas over at Club Maximus, I've watched Montana Steele in the midst of a crowd of men looking for new heroines and new beauty queens, and I've watched her around the other feature entertainers competing for the crown she had won back in 2002.

Although most of the other feature entertainers had personalities that wouldn't quit, Montana Steele's soared over the top in a spell binding show of charisma that is rarely seen on or off the stage.

There was Montana and then there were the rest. Suddenly a light showed brightly over how Montana had triumphed in 2002 against impossible odds, coming up from behind when she was well behind in points after the first three nights when a talented local girl seemed poised to take all the marbles. I had seen it--I had photographed the whole thing, how she performed while smiling at the crowd as she made it hers. Every move she made, every gesture, and even the expression on her face spoke loud and clear that "I am the champion. There is no one in this room who can entertain you the way I can."

The rest were just competing for second place. Montana, after all, had ordained it. There simply was no other choice. And in between all the performances, Montana kept sauntering through the crowd as she made idle chit chat with patron after patron. She'd jostle the men while kidding them in that Southern twang of hers that she must have picked up in Louisville which is where she's from. As the other girl sat quietly talking with her friends, Montana put herself on public display from the moment she showed up to close.

Later the pictures I had taken of her on stage turned out to be spectacular, showing a confident woman at the top of her game, her very form and every move oozing excitement no one else that night could begin to match. That night was Montana's birthday. A few minutes after midnight, the verdict came in. Earlier that day the club's general manager had told her she was so far behind in points that she couldn't possibly win first place although it was likely she'd manage a second place showing. But like the thoroughbred she was and is, she had somehow surged through the insurmountable barrier of being hopelessly behind. Montana Steele was the new Miss Texas.

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