02 Dec 2025 Oh, how she shined!
By Ginger English
In 1956, Barbara Banks was crowned Miss Conway, qualifying her to enter the Miss Arkansas competition. She won all preliminaries in the pageant and was crowned Miss Arkansas. Later that year, she represented Arkansas in Atlantic City, N.J., where she won the talent division of the Miss America Pageant.
Born in Little Rock, the beauty moved to Conway with her parents, James and Irene Banks, and attended St. Joseph School from 1950-1955. She was associated with dancing for most of her life and began teaching dance at age 14. After high school in 1955, Banks enrolled in Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway as a drama major and music minor. She continued teaching dance at the university, as well as in many schools and dance seminars throughout the country.
Returning to Conway in 1959, she married Frank Selvy, Kentucky’s Furman University basketball All-American and a star for the Los Angeles Lakers for nine seasons in the NBA. They have five grown children, 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The Selvy family settled in Simpsonville, S.C. Frank passed away on Aug. 13, 2024. “We had a wonderful marriage,” she said.
As Miss Arkansas, Selvy was privileged to make many public appearances throughout the state. One of her most memorable appearances was at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Dec. 22, 1956, at the first and only Aluminum Bowl, a football championship game of the NAIA.
Nationally televised halftime festivities at the Aluminum Bowl were to feature Miss Arkansas, as well as several Arkansas high school bands and many dignitaries. As Miss Arkansas, Banks was adorned with a beautiful aluminum-threaded ball gown created by Paris designer Jean Desses. The Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), with Arkansas headquarters in Bauxite (Saline County), had commissioned Desses to design the ball gown for their “unique design” project called FORECAST.
Due to an unexpected downpour of rain during the halftime festivities, Banks was covered from head to toe with protective garments. This nullified any efforts to showcase the beautiful garment to the country as Miss Arkansas was introduced by Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus on national television. The aluminum-threaded gown is now on permanent display in the Bauxite Historical Museum.
After her reign as Miss Arkansas, Banks studied dance art in New York City, where she also toured and appeared in many Broadway shows. She made several national TV commercials and appeared daily on the game show “Play Your Hunch” with Merv Griffin. She also made guest appearances on “The Perry Como Show,” “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Steve Allen Show,” and was the lead actress in TV episodes of the “Naked City” series.
In 1972, Barbara Selvy founded the Carolina Ballet Theatre in Greenville, S.C. Considered the country’s top ballet theater under the leadership of Selvy, it has attracted many world-famous ballet artists as guest instructors and performers since its inception.
Honors and awards achieved by Selvy are numerous. She danced and toured with the “Hit Parade” TV show in the Far East, choreographed for The Little Theatre productions, Furman University operas, Miss Carolina pageants, lectured in public schools, and received Best Actress awards for appearing in productions of “Mary, Mary” as Mary and as Daisy in “Driving Miss Daisy.”
She is a past regional director and ballet adviser of the Southern Association of Dance Masters and a member of Dance Educators of America, Dance Masters of America, and was once featured on the cover of “Dance Magazine.”
In 1979, Selvy was named Mrs. South Carolina. Later, she also directed, emceed and choreographed Mrs. South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia pageants. She has also served as a judge for the Miss America preliminaries and dance competitions.
Selvy was selected for Southern Who’s Who, International Who’s Who, Foremost Women of the Twentieth Century, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in American Entertainment and International World Who’s Who of Women. Her accomplishments have been many.
At age 87, Selvy’s most treasured achievements in her professional life remain with the Carolina Ballet Theatre. “The theater is the oldest existing company in South Carolina,” she said with pride. She retired and stepped away from day-to-day activities at the theater, but continues to stay in touch with the management team when needed, while maintaining an active personal lifestyle.
After 70 years, Barbara Banks Selvy remains Conway’s only Miss Conway to become Miss Arkansas.
