Her drill team idea was inspired by the marching styles of Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets at a local community college.
[1] Regarded as the "mother of drill team", Crawford died of cancer in her home in Redondo Beach, CA on August 29, 2001.
[2] In 1967, Crawford came up with the idea to produce Miss Dance Drill Team USA (MDDTUSA Nationals & Pageant) for her master's degree thesis project.
[1][3] To support this endeavor, she also opened an annual summer camp called "Drill Team World".
[1] Soloist performer Carolyn Burford from John F. Kennedy High School (Cyprus, California) was crowned "Miss Drill Team USA".
Mark Keppel High School (Alhambra, California) won the song-pom category and Temple City High School (Temple City, California) placed first in both the flag and baton twirling categories.
[7] In 1981, Crawford started Miss Dance Drill Team International (World Championships) with the first event being held in California in 1982.
The first international dance competition hosted more than 2000 high school-aged participants from 9 countries including the United States.
She was also recruited for the same effort during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games[1] Up until her death, Crawford had campaigned to make dance-sport precision teams and dance/drill team competitions an officially recognized athletic event in the Olympics.