All Hail: Gulfport’s History of Queens By Greg Stemm
GULFPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Gulfport Lions Club Gala Days Beauty Princesses, 1958
When Jody Robinson was named Gecko Queen at the 2019 Gecko Ball she had no idea her reign would stretch into 2021. She had planned to pass the torch to the next non-genderspecific royalty at the 2020 Gecko Ball, which would have been held later this month. Then COVID-19 changed all of that. This year’s Gecko Ball, like so many other popular annual events, was canceled and Robinson suddenly became the de facto 2020 Queen, continuing her reign until, hopefully, the 2021 event. Robinson was certainly not the first person to be named Queen in Gulfport. In modern Gulfport, anyone can be the Gecko Queen; the title has gone to at least three men. In the past, however, the title of “Queen” was given to a young woman, in a tradition that goes back at least 60 years. It all began with sock hops in the 1950s. In 1957, Patricia Horan was a 16-year-old who enjoyed going to teen dances sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce at the Casino. “We were good kids,” says Horan. “We didn’t drink or do drugs; we just loved to dance.” In April that year, Horan competed against 32 young women for the title of “Record Romp Queen.” At her coronation she was joined by seven other girls on her court, and crowned by newly elected chamber president Kenneth Johnson. Horan was led to the throne by DJ Bill Mitchell – who would later buy
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and operate a local radio station. “My duties were pretty easy,” said Horan. “All I had to do was to show up to the dances and reign over them.” Her words of advice to current Gecko Queen Robinson? “Be yourself and make a good impression of Gulfport to everyone you meet.” The Record Romp continued for a few more years before it moved to the St. Pete Pier in the early 1960s, where Pepsi signed on as a headline sponsor. Also in the mid 1950s, the Gulfport Lions Club sponsored Gala Days, a celebration of Gulfport’s founding. There were annual queens and their courts named throughout the late ‘50s and into the late ‘60s. By 1969 there was an entity called “Gulfport Festivals,” a community-based group that produced all sorts of events in town, including the city’s 4th of July celebration. Various clubs and organizations sent representatives to serve as part of this planning group. In 1971, they started a beauty pageant to name “Gulfport Festival’s Queen.” Seventeen girls, mostly from Boca Ciega High School, competed for the honor. Helen McCollough won that year, but all 17 received trophies. A Gabber article from that time said, “they were all lovely girls.” The next year Janie Sharbaugh took the title and it was the first time the pageant was covered live by the new cable company
theGabber.com | September 3 - September 9, 2020
