{{Short description|American beauty pageant titleholder}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox pageant titleholder | name = Lynnette Cole | image = | birth_name = Lynnette Marie Cole | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|2|9}} | birth_place = Columbia, Tennessee, U.S. | title = {{ubl|Miss Tennessee Teen USA 1995|Miss Tennessee USA 2000|Miss USA 2000}} | nationalcompetition = {{ubl|Miss Tennessee Teen USA 1995|(Winner)|Miss Teen USA 1995|(Top 6)|Miss Teen All American 1997|(Winner)|Miss Tennessee USA 2000|(Winner)|Miss USA 2000|(Winner)|Miss Universe 2000|(Top 5)}}
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'''Lynnette Marie O'Nan''' (née '''Cole'''; born February 9, 1978) is an American director, former model and beauty pageant titleholder who won the title Miss Tennessee USA 2000. She went on to become the first woman from that state to win the Miss USA 2000 pageant,<ref name="first1">(April 1, 2004). [http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_48801.asp Chattanooga’s Stephanie Culberson Representing Tennessee At Miss USA 2000 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708142402/http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_48801.asp |date=July 8, 2011 }}, chattanoogan.com ("In 2000, Columbia’s Lynnette Cole was the first from the state to win the coveted title.")</ref> she represented the United States at Miss Universe 2000, was one of placed in the Top 5 finalist.
Cole is from Columbia, Tennessee and was twenty-one years old when she won the national crown.<ref name="21pr">(February 27, 2000). [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=FV&p_theme=fv&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F54EB7FACE63604&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM], ''Fayetteville Observer'' ("Lynnette Cole says she is half Puerto Rican and half white The 21yearold who was Miss Tennessee won the Miss USA crown on Feb 4"){{dead link|date=March 2024}}</ref>
==Family background== Cole is of Puerto Rican heritage.<ref name="21pr"/>
==Pageants== Cole's first major pageant win came in 1995 when she won the title Miss Tennessee Teen USA.<ref name="teenwin">(August 14, 1995). [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WE&s_site=kansas&p_multi=WE&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADB6AE1C8F1DA3&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM TEEN USA CONTESTANTS SERIOUS ABOUT ISSUES], ''Wichita Eagle'' ("Miss Tennessee Teen USA - Lynnette Cole")</ref> She was a top six finalist at the Miss Teen USA pageant in that year, and won the Miss Photogenic award, finishing fourth overall. Cole later won the 1997 Miss Teen All American title.
After winning Miss Tennessee USA Cole competed for and won the title of Miss USA 2000, becoming the second Hispanic woman to win Miss USA after Laura Harring at Miss USA 1985. Cole went on to compete at the Miss Universe pageant, held in Nicosia, Cyprus later that year.<ref name="win1">(February 4, 2000). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7qFPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ClMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5854,3485473&dq=lynnette-cole&hl=en Tennessean Crowned Miss Usa 2000], ''Kingman Daily Miner'' (Associated Press)</ref> Her national costume was a Vegas showgirl. Her performance was enough to secure her a spot among the five finalists,<ref name="topfive">(May 13, 2000). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=llFWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6706,3083986&dq=lynnette-cole&hl=en Miss India Wins Miss Universe Pageant], ''Gainesville Sun'' (Associated Press)</ref> and brought the US back into the semifinals (after Kimberly Pressler had failed to advance the year before, breaking a streak of consecutive placements that had been going since 1977). She also placed fifth overall. She became the first woman to place in the top five at all three pageants and her record was not surpassed until 2006 by Tara Conner.
Cole has directed a local preliminary for Miss Tennessee USA.<ref name="prelim">(December 10, 2008). [http://www.philstar.com/funfare/Article.aspx?articleId=422659&publicationSubCategoryId=70 A Gallery of Black Beauty Queens], PhilStar.com</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ach}} {{succession box | before = {{flagicon|South Africa}} Sonia Raciti | title = Miss Universe 4th runner-up | years = 2000 | after = {{flagicon|India}} Celina Jaitly }} {{succession box | before =Kimberly Pressler New York | title = Miss USA | years = 2000 | after = Kandace Krueger Texas }} {{succession box | before = Morgan Tandy High | title = Miss Tennessee USA | years = 2000 | after = Lisa Tollett }} {{succession box | before = Allison Alderson | title = Miss Tennessee Teen USA | years = 1995 | after = Adrienne Parker }} {{s-end}}
{{Miss USA titleholders}} {{Miss Universe Organization titleholders |Year = 2000 |Miss Universe= {{flagicon|India}} Lara Dutta |Miss USA= Lynnette Cole Tennessee |Miss Teen USA=Jillian Parry Pennsylvania }} {{Miss Universe 2000 delegates}} {{Tennessee pageant winners}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Lynnette}} Category:1970s births Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent Category:Living people Category:Miss Tennessee USA winners Category:Miss Universe 2000 contestants Category:Miss USA 2000 delegates Category:Miss USA winners Category:People from Columbia, Tennessee Category:American adoptees Category:1995 beauty pageant contestants Category:20th-century Miss Teen USA delegates Category:Year of birth missing (living people)