As a result, George left North Texas and enrolled at TCU until winning the Miss America crown later that fall.

[2] George's television career began in 1974 as a co-host on the comedy show Candid Camera.

The following year, she joined the cast of The NFL Today, co-hosting live pregame shows before National Football League games.

As a former beauty queen with a limited television background, she was criticized for not possessing the traditional qualifications for a sportscaster.

Hannah Storm, an anchor at ESPN's SportsCenter, called George "a true trailblazer" for being an inspirational role model for women who wanted to pursue careers in sportscasting.

[11] In 1985, CBS settled on Phyllis George to serve as a permanent anchor for its morning news program.

A low point of her eight-month stint on The CBS Morning News happened when George embarrassed herself during a May 1985 interview with Gary Dotson and Cathleen Webb.

[13] Both appeared on the CBS program as part of (as George later told Tom Shales of The Washington Post) a Webb-Dotson press tour "charade.

The invitation to embrace was deemed highly inappropriate prompting a few phone calls from irate CBS viewers.

[14] According to news reports at the time, George had been brought in to boost the ratings of the perennial third place ranked program.

[28][29] Like Phyllis, Pamela would also become a journalist, even landing various anchor and correspondent positions at CNN after journing the network in 2021.

[27] George died of complications from polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer,[33] on May 14, 2020, aged 70, at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.