Vintage Vamp: Jayne Kennedy
"Watching the battling, testosterone-heavy anchors on ESPN over the weekend, we couldn't help but get nostalgic for that glorious period from 1978 to 1980, when Jayne Kennedy co-anchored CBS' sports program "NFL Today." Of course, Kennedy was much more than the first African-American woman to host a sports program -- she may have even started the whole celebrity multi-hyphenate craze. Consider her resume: After reigning as the first Black Miss Ohio in 1970, the Cleveland native parlayed her pagaent success into a major modeling career -- she posed on several magazine covers, and soon became the face of Jovan Musk (you know you used to wear it) and Tab soda (you know you used to drink it). She went on to guest-star on a flurry of hit TV shows like "Shaft," "Kojak," "The Love Boat," "Sanford & Son" and "Starsky and Hutch." Kennedy won an NAACP Image Award for her portrayal of a reporter in love with a boxer in the cult classic film, "Body and Soul." And then, as if she weren't busy enough, Kennedy launched one of the top-selling fitness videos of the '80s, the aptly titled "Love Your Body." By the end of the decade, though, the actress/model/fitness celebrity had had enough of the limelight, and she settled on a farm in Maine with her three daughters. Sounds idyllic. We love you, Jayne Kennedy."
