GMA celebrates Jayne Kennedy for Black History Month
Sherri Shepherd celebrates Jayne Kennedy for Black History Month
GMA celebrates Jayne Kennedy for Black History Month
JAYNE KENNEDY OVERTON
Jayne Kennedy Overton
"For millions of American women who came of age in the 1960’s and 70’s, Jayne Kennedy was more than The IT Girl. More than a cherished role model for all women and African-American women in particular … Jayne Kennedy was an inspiration and an icon! Hers was the career, the face, the image that women young and old, rich and poor, conjured when they thought of a woman whose real life was the stuff of which Hollywood movies were made." - Laura Randolph; author
Through much of this, it seemed unreal to Jayne until she stood face to face with her photo hung on the wall of The Smithsonian National Museum of African America History and Culture. They had selected for their 2018-2019 exhibit on pioneering trailblazers as part of their Television and the Media Landscape... Jayne Kennedy! And there she was larger than life, at the CBS NFL Today desk, hanging next to Nat King Cole, Diahann Carroll, Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek), and Diana Ross and The Supremes. That moment brought back the many cherished memories and emotional ups and downs of her journey throughout the decades.
In June of 2022, The National Sports Media Association honored Jayne with their prestigious Roone Arledge Award For Innovation.
I February 2023, both Good Morning America and The Sherri Show honored Jayne as a trailblazer for Women in Sports during their Black History Month celebration.
Now after raising four beautiful daughters Jayne is re-launching her career... her “Unfinished Business”.
JAYNE 2.0 is her “comeback” thirty-two years later. After raising four amazing daughters Jayne is re-launching her career... her unfinished business. Beginning her Hollywood debut in 1971 she first appeared as a dancer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, performed with Bob Hope's Bases Around the World Christmas Tour in Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, Spain, and Cuba which lead to three years with the Dean Martin Show as a singer/dancer. Guest starring on TV shows and films filled the mid 70s for Jayne but she is best known for her pioneering work on the Emmy Award winning CBS NFL Today.
In 1978 American households remembered Jayne Kennedy for her ground-breaking tenure as co-anchor on the most popular network sports show in television history, the CBS NFL Today. As one of the first female sports broadcasters, and the first African American female in that role, she destroyed the myth that women couldn’t make it in the world of sports broadcasting, blasting the doors wide open for women in sports forevermore. Ms. Kennedy is the only female to ever host one of TV’s longest running syndicated sports series, Greatest Sports Legends, alongside its plethora of great male hosts including Reggie Jackson and Paul Hornung. She is the first female to ever work ring-side as a TV color commentator for men’s professional boxing through her work for MAPS (Muhammad Ali Professional Sports). But breaking ground is nothing new for Jayne. There seemed to always be a hurdle on the track as she raced through a career that brought her acclaim as an actress, broadcaster, TV personality, producer, exercise guru, talk show host, model, singer, dancer, infomercial host, lecturer, corporate spokeswoman, philanthropist, and now author. The infomercial business had barely been born when Jayne hosted her first infomercial which grossed over $56 million in its first year.
Recently, Black Enterprise's Women of Power Summit bestowed upon Jayne the honor of their 2018 Legacy Award as one of four recipients along with political strategist and former Democratic National Chair, Donna Brazile / Edith Cooper of Goldman Sachs / and the legendary choreographer, Carmen Delavellade.
March 2019 Jayne participated in the International Women’s Conference at the United Nations moderating the “Commission on the Status of Women” panel.
Jayne Co-Executive Produced a documentary short on her career in sports entitled “Interception: Jayne Kennedy American Sportscaster” which premiered at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival in August 2019.
Jayne’s honors and awards are numerous: The NSMA Roone Arledge Award, The Black Enterprise Magazine Women of Power Legacy Award, an EMMY Award for her 1981 Rose Parade coverage; The Dream Awards ICON AWARD, an EMMY Nomination for her Speak Up America segment on "Korea & the DMZ"; an NAACP IMAGE Award for “Best Actress” in the film Body & Soul which she co-produced and earned a Golden Globe Best Producer nomination; a CEBA Award for her work in the commercial industry; a NAACP THEATRE Award for “Best Producer” for her staged musical production of "The Journey of the African American", chronicling 400 years of African American history in song and dance; a Black Achiever Award as a role model in the African American community; and while still in high school, the Miss Ohio crown in the Miss USA/ Universe Pageant (the first African American to win the Ohio title); the Miss Junior Achievement crown; and her most treasured title of American Legion Auxiliary’s Girl’s Nation - Vice President of the United States as the Senator from Ohio.
Jayne is also a pioneer in the exercise and fitness video industry. She is one of the first in the history of celebrity home fitness and exercise videos, creating, writing, producing, and hosting the series Love Your Body which skyrocketed to #3 behind Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons. Love Your Body was the first “exercise in the sky” program, AAerobics, on American Airline’s entertainment channels; as well as the first daily syndicated radio morning exercise show entitled “RadioRobics.”
Pioneer is indeed the perfect word to describe Ms. Jayne Kennedy Overton.
"Jayne was one of the earliest Black women to represent corporate America, and in fantastic brands that are really Fortune 50."
- Debra Langford: Assistant Dean at the USC Marshall School of Business, USC
In her role as the face of corporate America, Jayne was in high demand as a spokeswoman for product endorsements with Coca Cola, (both TAB and Diet Coke), Reebok, Revlon, Fashion Fair Cosmetics, Esoterica, Jovan Fragrances, Bankers Systems, and more. She also teamed up with Butterick Patterns to create the Jayne Kennedy Fitness and Exercise Line of patterns. As a Children's Miracle Network Telethon co-host for 17 years alongside Marie Osmond, Marilyn McCoo, John Schneider, Merlin Olsen, Rich Little and Bob Hope, Jayne helped to raise $4.5 billion for children’s hospitals across America. Despite the achievements of her groundbreaking career, Jayne says her most fulfilling role is that of “Mom” to daughters Savannah, Kopper, Zaire, Cheyenne, and “Wife” to her actor /author /entrepreneur / consultant husband, Bill Overton. Because she promised years ago that she would be there for her kids, Jayne has spent the last years at home being a full time wife and mom; without a doubt, she says, “the hardest work I’ve ever done!” Now that Zaire is graduating college and a baby no more, Savannah has her M.A. in Media Studies, Kopper has a B.A. in Advertising and Cheyenne has begun her own family; Jayne, whom Ebony Magazine announced as “One of the 20 Greatest Sex Symbols of the 20th Century,” Essence Magazine included in "The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women in History," BET championed as one of the "Ten Black Female Firsts in TV Journalism Around the World," and Coca Cola USA once named “The Most Admired Black Woman in America” is ready to return to the professional fast track.
In 2015 she launched IT'S A MOTHER DAUGHTER THING! The concept behind the campaign focuses on her work with each of her daughters; strengthening and renewing her dedication to improve not only their footing in life but bettering the status of our communities as well. She has produced an annual Multicultural Faire for five years for the Santa Monica - Malibu Unified School District, managed the Westside Breakers Soccer Club 95 Blue and 94 White club soccer teams for 10 years, as well as aided numerous college bound students guiding them through the college application and scholarship search process. Working with Savannah, Jayne launched the It's A Mother Daughter Thing Speakers Series and is developing a talk show with Savannah as the host addressing America's social issues.
With Zaire, Jayne helped to co-create and co-produce in March 2015 the inaugural Youth Consortium & Leadership Round Table: Career Opportunities for International Relations workshop (COIR) which was presented in conjunction with the US Department of State, American Women for International Understanding, the International Women of Courage Awards and First Lady Michelle Obama. In 2016 COIR was picked up as an official Human Resources Recruiting Event by the US Department of State. Zaire is also staging a series of speaking engagements in an effort to increase minority student participation in international travel and study abroad options.
With Kopper, Jayne worked with Resurrecting Lives Foundation as a Media and Community Adviser Board Member addressing the status of American veterans. The Resurrecting Lives Foundation is a full circle event for Ms. Overton. At the beginning of her career in 1971 Jayne traveled as a member of the Hollywood Deb Stars with Bob Hope's USO Bases Around the World Christmas Tour entertaining our troops in Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Spain, Cuba and Denver, Colorado. In 1980 she worked with the USO as host on the NBC's Speak Up America interviewing our troops in South Korea as part of an in-depth report on the psychological effects of war for our troops working on the Demilitarized Zone just two feet away from the ever-present glares of the North Korean troops. Her report earned her an EMMY nomination. Along the way she has visited many veterans’ hospitals, offering smiles and kind words of thanks. Presently, Ms. Kennedy Overton is developing a TV series focusing on the plight of our fallen heroes and their struggles not in combat on foreign fields but with the enemies here at home: unemployment, depression, TBI and PTSD.
This speaker's series is part of her stable of properties in her future that includes; three films, two TV series, one TV special, three children's books, a coffee table book of photos shot by the founder of the 5th Dimension, photographer Lamonte McLemore, a biographical documentary, and her living process piece the autobiographical book - Plain Jayne. Mrs. Kennedy Overton has also called upon her artistic talents in design to create the Jayne Kennedy Overton Originals Collection "J-KOO" a designer line of fine and costume jewelry and art prints. J-KOO is scheduled to launch in conjunction with the release of Plain Jayne.
Jayne Kennedy is an American icon, a pioneer! A name most remembered for her 1978-1980 groundbreaking tenure as co-anchor on the previously all male desk of the most popular network sports show in
television history,
the EMMY AWARD winning
CBS NFL TODAY
