Phyllis Ann George

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_George

Phyllis Ann George (June 25, 1949 – May 14, 2020) was an American businesswoman, actress, and sportscaster. In 1975, George was hired as a reporter and co-host of the CBS Sports pre-show The NFL Today, becoming one of the first women to hold an on-air position in national televised sports broadcasting. She also served as the First Lady of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983.

She won Miss Texas in 1970 and was crowned Miss America 1971.

• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 7 2024, 15:48:43 UTC

  ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_George

Phyllis Ann George (June 25, 1949 – May 14, 2020) was an American businesswoman, actress, and sportscaster. In 1975, George was hired as a reporter and co-host of the CBS Sports pre-show The NFL Today, becoming one of the first women to hold an on-air position in national televised sports broadcasting. She also served as the First Lady of Kentucky from 1979 to 1983.

She won Miss Texas in 1970 and was crowned Miss America 1971.

Early life

George was born to Diantha Cogdell and James George in Denton, Texas. She attended the University of North Texas for three years until crowned Miss Texas in 1971. At that time, Texas Christian University awarded scholarships to Miss Texas honorees. As a result, Phyllis left UNT and enrolled at TCU for several weeks until winning the Miss America crown later that fall. She is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. George won the 1971 Miss America pageant.

In her year-long stint as Miss America, George appeared on numerous talk shows, including three interviews on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

CBS Sports

CBS Sports producers approached George to become a sportscaster in 1974. The following year, she joined the cast of The NFL Today, co-hosting live pregame shows before National Football League (NFL) games. She was one of the first females to have a nationally prominent role in television sports coverage.

Another duty George had with CBS Sports was working on horse racing events, including the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Additionally, George had a brief stint on a television news version of People in 1978 and a job as a morning television talk show host as co-anchor of the CBS Morning News in 1985. Since that time, she has sporadically returned to the media spotlight, hosting her own prime-time talk show, 1994’s A Phyllis George Special, on which she interviewed then-President Bill Clinton, and a 1998 talk show called Women's Day on the cable network Pax.

CBS Morning News

Main article: The Early Show#The 1980s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Early_Show#The_1980s

In 1985, CBS settled on Phyllis George to serve as a permanent anchor for their morning news program. George was given a three-year contract following a two-week trial run. As co-anchor, she interviewed newsmakers including then–First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Business interests

George has founded two companies in her business career, the first of which was "By George" chicken fillets. In 1988 after operating for only two years, George sold the company to consumer giant, Hormel Foods, which agreed to operate it as a separate division. In 1991 George received the "Celebrity Women Business Owner of the Year" from the National Association of Women Business Owners.

In 2003 George created Phyllis George Beauty which markets a line of cosmetics and skincare through television shopping network HSN.

She has also written or co-authored five books—three about crafts, one on dieting (her first book, The I Love America Diet-1982) and her most recent, Never Say Never (2002).

Personal life and death

George was married twice. Her first marriage was to Hollywood producer Robert Evans, and her second to Kentucky Fried Chicken owner and governor of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr. George served as Kentucky's First Lady during Brown's term in office. During her marriage to Brown, she had two children, Lincoln Tyler George Brown and Pamela Ashley Brown. Both of George's marriages ended in divorce.

George died of complications from polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer, on May 14, 2020, aged 70, at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.