page_title: Phyllis George
section_title: Business interests
hierarchical_section_title: Phyllis George / Career / Business interests
caption_attribution_description: Phyllis George, Miss America 1971, signing autographs at a Miss America 2008 event.
context_page_description: Phyllis Ann George 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.
context_section_description: George founded two companies in the course of her business career, the first of which was "Chicken by George" chicken fillets. In 1988 after operating for only two years, George sold the company to 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, she created Phyllis George Beauty, which markets a line of cosmetics and skincare products through television shopping network HSN.
  She also wrote or co-authored five books—three about crafts, one on dieting (her first book, The I Love America Diet, published in 1982), and the final one published during her lifetime, Never Say Never (2002).
  George was the founder of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, and was an avid folk and traditional arts collector. She was also a founding member of the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.
  George resurfaced in 2000 when she played a minor character in the hit movie Meet the Parents. It was one of her very few film roles.
caption: George signing autographs at the Miss America 2008 pageant
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