Tribute to Phyllis George
My dear friend Phyllis George, Former Miss America, Kentucky First Lady and CBS Sportscaster, sadly passed away on May 14, 2020. She was buried in Lexington, Kentucky in a private service at the Kentucky Capital Rotunda, as befits all former Governors and First Ladies. A loving and devoted mother, she is survived by her two children, Lincoln and Pamela.
I had known Phyllis George for 45 years. We met in 1975 when she hosted the Miss Mississippi Pageant. As a 20 year old student at Ole Miss, I had been chosen to sing in the Miss Mississippi Chorus, and more specifically I was to serve as one of Phyllis’s backup singers on an original song entitled, ”Light On The Hill,” written by Johnny Lawrence. Well, we brought the house down. Miss University of Southern Mississippi, my dear friend Mollie Magee, won the Miss Mississippi title that year (my wife Mary Donnelly Haskell won the title in 1977) and the song that Phyllis and I sang had been such a hit, that the pageant executives had Mollie sing “Light On The Hill” for her Miss America talent that fall.
The next time I saw Phyllis was in 1982 at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. By now she was First Lady of Kentucky, and she and her husband, Governor John Y. Brown were in Los Angeles hosting the Democratic National Telethon. I represented the telethon producer, Robert Precht. Robert was Ed Sullivan’s son in law, and one of my favorite clients. As soon as Phyllis and I saw each other we started singing “Light On The Hill” and we kept singing that song to each other throughout our decades of friendship. It was OUR song. Phyllis and I were born one day apart (different years) and she always referred to us as the Bobsy Twins — we called each other Bobs.
Phyllis broke the glass ceiling for women sportscasters, and hosted NFL Today for a decade. We saw each other often in New York during my years at the William Morris Agency. We loved the restaurant Michael’s on 54th Street. Phyllis also helped me raise money for the Duke Of Edinburgh Award, and joined me and my great friend HRH The Prince Edward for several dinners in New York regarding The Award. Then in 2005, Phyllis asked me to join the Miss America Board and help her save Miss America. It had no network, the ratings were a disaster, and there were no sponsorships. She nominated me to be Chairman and together with our dear friend Lynn Weidner, we put together a new board of directors including special friends Sue Lowden and Gloria Fine, corporate friends, and three former Miss Americas, bringing Miss America back to the top where she belonged. We made major deals with TLC Discovery, and then ABC. Together we found incredible sponsors as well.
Phyllis also joined my wife Mary and me at Magnolia Hill in Oxford for a long weekend. She loved Oxford and Ole Miss and reminisced about her visit to Ole Miss when she was Miss America. When my daughter Mary Lane had her stroke last fall, Phyllis was on the phone immediately asking about her care, her rehab, and her doctors. We had spoken every single week for the past 15 years! I shall miss her terribly, but I am proud to say that I was able to “stand in the light of God’s grace” with this beautiful soul! She honored me with her love and support. She was a great friend! I will always feel her presence, as I know that she is waiting, just around the corner, and all is well.
