by R. Cole Goodwin
Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Miss America (1985) challenges readers to grow by taking on new challenges in her best-selling book as she pushes the envelope for herself
Editor’s Note: Sharlene Wells Hawkes, Miss America 1985, ESPN TV sportscaster, acclaimed singer, communications consultant and author, will speak about the insights she gained in writing her latest book, “Kissing a Frog: Four Steps To Finding Comfort Outside Your Comfort Zone” at The Washington, DC Temple Visitors’ Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kensington, Maryland this Saturday, January 11, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. Her presentation is free and is open to the public; for more information, please e-mail [email protected] or telephone 301-587-0144.
Pucker up–Miss America wants you to kiss a frog.
The frog-a metaphor for those intimidating opportunities in your life you would rather avoid than explore-has been following Sharlene Wells Hawkes, the ESPN sports broadcaster and the 1985 Miss America, all her life. Now, Hawkes tells how-to push the envelopes in your own life through her new, best-selling book, Kissing a Frog: Four Steps To Finding Comfort Outside Your Comfort Zone.
“I’ve been working on the book for over five years,” posits Hawkes. “I’ve been speaking professionally for almost twenty years, but almost every time I spoke before a group, they would ask, ‘Do you have a book for us to sign?’. As time went on, my message began to crystallize, that when you challenge yourself, there is more meaning to your life, there is a greater sense of purpose, even when you fail. I began to realize that it’s more important how you react to life than what happens to you”.
Hawkes’ message is clearly resonating with book buyers. Although held for national release until after the New Year, it was allowed a limited release in a some bookstores in Utah just before Christmas. It has quickly jumped to a Top Ten bestseller in that market.
Jane Clayson, a correspondent with CBS News, was one of the early recipients of Hawkes’ wisdom, applauding her efforts to encourage others to expand their boundaries. “One thing I have learned in both my professional and personal pursuits is that you must be willing to risk failure to succeed. In Kissing a Frog, Sharlene wisely teaches. that you gain strength, courage and confidence from every experience in which you really stop and look fear in the face.”
Says Hawkes, “I have learned that all worthy competitors must explore success and failure to become champions. To face them both brings the possibility of success; to default brings the certitude of failure.”
Hawkes gained prominence in September 1984 when she was crowned Miss America in one of the most closely followed pageants in the contest’s history. Born Sharlene Wells in Asuncin, Paraguay as the fifth of seven children, Hawkes spent twelve years of her youth in South America, including most of her high school years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she became fluent in Spanish as well as English. Hawkes distinguished herself during the pageant by playing the Paraguayan harp and by singing in Spanish for her talent presentation, all this in front of a record television audience of over one hundred million viewers. Traveling nearly a quarter of a million miles and addressing tens of thousands of people during her reign, she often relied on her fluent Spanish as Miss America 1985.
Speaking in public may have been the first frog Hawkes kissed. “It terrified me to be in front of a crowd. When I was growing up, I never dreamed I would become a public speaker,” she avers.
At the conclusion of her tenure as Miss America, Hawkes returned to her studies at Brigham Young University where she graduated magna cum laude, receiving several academic awards for her accomplishments in broadcasting and in communications.
In 1987, Hawkes became one of the first women to break into the profession of sports broadcasting, inking a contract for on-air work with the 24-hour cable television sports network, ESPN. Covering high-profile events, such as World Cup Soccer and the Kentucky Derby, she earned national recognition and even an Emmy nomination.
After receiving wide-spread acclaim and recognition for her coverage of sports and its personalities, Hawkes set aside her career in 1995 to devote full-time attention to motherhood, while remaining on a freelancer’s contract with ESPN to cover special sports events ever since.
Now a mother of four young children, she serves as a Sunday School teacher in her ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. Hawkes and her husband, Bob, enjoy horseback riding, camping, mountain biking and skiing and work out daily in their home gym to stay in shape.
While balancing the demands of family, church and her freelance broadcasting career, Hawkes would work on Kissing a Frog every week. “My father and mother would call and always ask me how I was doing and when the book would be finished. They were real catalysts that kept me going all along,” she affirms. Her father, Robert E. Wells, was a member of the Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy and, after becoming an Emeritus Seventy, became President of the Santiago Chile Temple. Like his daughter, Elder Wells is also the author of several popular books and served as an early inspiration for one of the early accounts in Kissing a Frog, when Hawkes recounts how he flew a civilian plane into a combat zone to medivac a sick woman.
For the New Year, Hawkes has two comfort zones she is working to expand. Inside her family, as her oldest children are moving toward adolescence, she realizes that she will need to adjust to new demands in raising them. Her business, Hawkes Communications, is also working on a project with the Utah Chamber of Commerce, Utah State Government and several sponsors scheduled to become public later this year. Just in case expanding into new family and business comfort zones are not enough, she is also on a four-year program to finish a Master’s degree in Communications from Brigham Young University. For Hawkes, there are no end to frogs in her life, just waiting to be kissed and turned into princes.
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2001 Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
