North Texas Legend Phyllis George has passed

[ADLER]

The North Texas alumna, former Miss Texas and Miss America, and sports broadcasting pioneer has passed at 70 after a lengthy illness. She was Miss Texas 1970 and she was Miss America 1971.

 

Quote

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Phyllis George, a former Miss America, television personality and ex-wife of Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. has died in Lexington after an illness.

George, who had been hospitalized at the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler hospital, was 70.

She died Thursday from complications from a blood disorder she had developed in her mid-30s but had managed for many years, Brown told The (Louisville) Courier-Journal on Saturday.

A native of Denton, Texas, George was a student at North Texas State University when, in 1971, she won the Miss America title that would change her life, leading to dozens of national appearances during her one-year reign before she settled in New York to try to break into television.

In 1972, she joined the cast of The NFL Today, co-hosting pregame shows with Brent Musburger, Irv Cross and Jimmy “The Greek” (Snyder) for four seasons. She was one of the first women to have a national role in sports television.

“Phyllis didn’t receive nearly enough credit for opening the sports broadcasting door for the dozens of talented women who took her lead and soared,” Musburger said Saturday on Twitter. “Folks — men and women — were comfortable with Phyllis talking about their favorite sport.”

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by ADLER

[southsideguy]

RIP Ms George.

[FirefightnRick]

 

Prayers for her and her family.

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by FirefightnRick

[Marty]

Wow,  Prayers out to the family.

[ADLER]

Her daughter is CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Pamela Brown.

 

[Eagle71]

Prayers for her family.

[Eagle71]

[eulessismore]

She was one of the greats out of North Texas, and in her own right, well deserving of the recognition she received in sports broadcast.

[UNTX]

"I am from Denton, Texas, and I will never let you or anybody else forget that," George said in a 1985 interview. "I am a small-town girl from a small town and a small-town family. If I hadn't come from Denton, I wouldn't be sitting here right now with this great job and my great husband and my beautiful children."

Phyllis George

 

[Coach Andy Mac]

Big loss.  She was really the first woman after Billie Jean King to make a major mark on behalf of women in sports and broadcasting.  

Edited May 17, 2020 by Coach Andy Mac

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

A UNT legend for sure. Impacted so many lives, and was always talked about with my class

[97and03]

7 hours ago, ADLER said:

Her daughter is CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Pamela Brown.

 

Good to see the legacy being carried on!

[Mean Green Matt]

Probably not popular to point out, but she’s actually a TCU alum...

[MCMLXXX]

8 minutes ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Probably not popular to point out, but she’s actually a TCU alum...

She enrolled in TCU on a scholarship for Miss Texas winners but only for one semester. When she won the Miss America contest she left TCU after a few weeks and never completed any coursework. She never finished her degree as far as I know. 

[letsgiveacheer]

1 hour ago, MCMLXXX said:

She enrolled in TCU on a scholarship for Miss Texas winners but only for one semester. When she won the Miss America contest she left TCU after a few weeks and never completed any coursework. She never finished her degree as far as I know. 

I am certainly no expert here but I seem to recall there was some sort of official tie-in between the Miss Texas pageant and TCU.  

As as aside,  almost every student at North Texas knew Phyllis George's father as he was the security guard at the library exit to make sure no one was stealing books! He was a very kind man who was always ready to chat.

[greenjoe]

Many of you will recall the 1967 Denton High School production of South Pacific starring (?) Phyllis George as a native girl and GreenJoe as a lonely sailor.  

[Danish43]

One of the reason I was convinced to attend NT in Spring of 1978, Denton had all those beautiful girls. 

[eulessismore]

4 hours ago, letsgiveacheer said:

I am certainly no expert here but I seem to recall there was some sort of official tie-in between the Miss Texas pageant and TCU.  

As as aside,  almost every student at North Texas knew Phyllis George's father as he was the security guard at the library exit to make sure no one was stealing books! He was a very kind man who was always ready to chat.

I did not know that about Mr. George, but was told by some (and I'm sure it's true) that when I was attending UNT, in the late 1970's, the man at the Library exit was the father of Shirley Cothran, Miss America 1975. 

I do know that Phyllis George's mother, Louise, worked in what was then the NTSU Art Department during that time. Seems like I remember her mentioning that she had been a model herself at one time. She was quite a strong woman in her own right.

One thing about both those Miss America winners, they were from good Denton families, and never seemed to forget where they came from.

Edited May 17, 2020 by eulessismore

[letsgiveacheer]

1 hour ago, eulessismore said:

I did not know that about Mr. George, but was told by some (and I'm sure it's true) that when I was attending UNT, in the late 1970's, the man at the Library exit was the father of Shirley Cothran, Miss America 1975. 

I do know that Phyllis George's mother, Louise, worked in what was then the NTSU Art Department during that time. Seems like I remember her mentioning that she had been a model herself at one time. She was quite a strong woman in her own right.

One thing about both those Miss America winners, they were from good Denton families, and never seemed to forget where they came from.

Down the corridor of years, we'll forgot our joys and tears... You are absolutely correct, it was Shirley Cothran's dad, not Phyllis George's father.. Thanks for the clarification.

[drex]

Phyllis' dad worked for Moore Business Forms, Inc. in Denton for some time.  TCU gave a scholarship to the Miss Texas winner and the winner was required to use TCU as their alma mater for press releases, etc.  It was a blatantly deceptive move by the Miss Texas Pageant and TCU. Phyllis probably spent very little time at TCU.

[LongJim]

Phyllis George is a legend.  Remember her well from NFL Today.  Not sure how many folks know how big a deal it was to have a woman on the set of a major sports show.  It was a huge deal, and she was truly a trailblazer.  Really cool thing about her is she knew her stuff, and held her own on that set.  Sorry to hear of her passing.

[GrandGreen]

20 hours ago, drex said:

Phyllis' dad worked for Moore Business Forms, Inc. in Denton for some time.  TCU gave a scholarship to the Miss Texas winner and the winner was required to use TCU as their alma mater for press releases, etc.  It was a blatantly deceptive move by the Miss Texas Pageant and TCU. Phyllis probably spent very little time at TCU.

Yes, every Ms Texas at that time was a TCU coed.  Not a bad marketing ploy back when beauty contests were popular. 

[drex]

Actually, North Texas gave a scholarship years after TCU did.   I think they kinda rotated the scholarships around.

 

[GrandGreen]

5 hours ago, drex said:

Actually, North Texas gave a scholarship years after TCU did.   I think they kinda rotated the scholarships around.

 

I don't recall that at all. 

[letsgiveacheer]

Here's a nice write-up in the NY Times today. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/arts/television/phyllis-george-dead.html