When he was told four years ago that his teenaged middle-of-three daughters wanted to enter a beauty pageant, Hollis Conway, father of 2018 Miss Louisiana Holli’ Conway and a two-time Olympic high jump medalist, made a classic “man mistake.”

He jumped to conclusions.

“Fought it tooth and nail,” said Hollis, a six-time NCAA All-American and three-time national champion in the high jump for the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. “My daughter wanted to get to Broadway. That was her goal. She was very talented: she could sing and dance and act. She was great onstage. So I’m thinking, ‘This is not directly related to that.’ My whole thought was, ‘What do we need to do to prepare for Broadway?’

“But typically,” he said, “as a man, I forgot…that she is a beautiful young woman, with dreams.”

They were dreams that, relatively, were late in coming but early in blooming. Holli’ Conway followed those dreams and, at the encouragement of friends and pageant organizers, entered her first pageant in 2015 — and won. She was first runner-up in the Miss Louisiana pageant in 2016, then graduated from Northwestern State and began working as a playlist production vocalist for Carnival cruise lines, “retired” from the pageant system.

Until…until she watched the 2017 pageant on television. Something told her this opportunity was one she should jump at.

On a break from work, she won the Miss Heart of Pilot pageant. On June 23, she was crowned Miss Louisiana.

Perhaps the only person who knew less about pageants than Holli’ did when she began competing was her dad.

“This will be the first time she’s ever heard me say it,” said Hollis, “but I’m glad, when she started this, that she didn’t listen to me.”

Sooner rather than later, Hollis, a Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer, bought into the competition and what went with it.

“Once I got involved, I understood that this wasn’t the typical pageant you see on TV,” he said. “One, this is about scholarships. These young women are earning some valuable educational resources. Plus, it’s forced Holli’ to know what’s going on in the world, to understand current events and what they mean to her and to everyone.

“And each of them has to have a platform,” he said. “The system supports the Children’s Miracle Network, but they each have their own platform, too.”

Holli’’s is “#InspHIGHER,” her way of promoting education and encouragement to young people who need a good foundation so they can more passionately follow their dreams.

“She’s become more socially aware and conscious in what she needs to do,” said Hollis, the ULL athletic department’s assistant director for diversity, leadership and education. “She’s making a difference in communities and is able to give back and better understand the world we live in.”

Hollis has been able to help her in that aspect, but when she’s on stage, all he can do is cheer. And hope. In track, he was in control. Being the dad of a pageant competitor is a different arena.

“I could always hit a reset button, control myself in competition,” he said. “But here, I have no control. No say so. Instead you’re depending on other people. I’m sitting in the audience thinking, ‘I don’t know…I THINK she’s the best. She is, right? But what do the judges think?’ I’m a lot more nervous than I was competing; not even close.

“In our family, when one person does something, we all do it,” said Hollis, husband to Charlotte and dad to Holli’, ULL junior Angelique, and first-grade teacher Tarvia. “We are all there to cheer each other on. This pageant thing was a stretch for me at first but I picked up on it pretty quickly. Didn’t take me long to see that this was a very, very good deal.”

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