Groundbreaking sports broadcaster Jayne Kennedy finally tells her story in ‘Plain Jayne’

Plain Jane: A memoir by Jayne Kennedy is available now from Andscape books. In this excerpt she talks about how she turned a short-term contract with The NFL Today in the late 1970s into becoming the first Black woman to co-anchor the show, thanks to an interview with Muhammad Ali.

When I was hired as the first Black woman to co-anchor the Emmy Award–winning CBS The NFL Today in 1978, the first live nationally broadcast pregame show, it was groundbreaking, and the press had a field day: lots of positive but so much more negative. I am eternally thankful that this was a pre-digital news-cycle era, no platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X, and the myriad of other online resources. Journalists resisted the idea that a woman held that spot, but what was worse to them was that it was a Black woman. I often wonder what the full impact was when I appeared on the set that first day.

It was initially only a six-week contract. They were extremely concerned that the southern television affiliates would pull out of the show because it was another Black person (as well as a Black woman) on the desk, and they already had a Black person on the set with Irv Cross. At that time, having two Black people on at the same time was considered a huge risk, even though Brent Musburger (who was white) was on the team as well. I knew immediately that I had to prove I was worthy. I was to remain living in LA and fly in to do the show every weekend. If I worked out, then I would be picked up for one year.

My second week at CBS I overheard a very heated conversation at the Sports Spectacular desk between the producers and the CBS business affairs team:

“What are we supposed to run if we don’t get that video in time?”

“Then we run a different segment.”

“We’re talking about Ali versus Spinks at the Superdome . . . and we’re the network with no post-fight interview? That can’t happen. We’ll all be on the unemployment line.”

“But they’re asking too much, and that’s outside of what we are prepared to pay.” 

I gathered that there was something going on with Ali’s lawyers, and the producers couldn’t secure an interview. Well, this is when knowing someone matters.

“Excuse me,” I said as I put my hand up. 

The producers looked at me like they’d never seen me before. 

“Are you talking about Ali?”

“Maybe. Who are you? And why do you want to know?”

“I can get you the interview.” 

They all turned to look at me quizzically from head to toe. 

“If you send me to New Orleans with a crew, I will have an Ali interview by showtime tomorrow.”

I let them take that in, as they scratched their heads.

“Do you want the Ali interview . . . or not?”

After they huddled together in a mini town hall meeting, they agreed — but only because they were desperate.

To this day I have no idea why they believed me. But when I asked them to give me a private jet and a crew and said I’d come back with the interview on Saturday morning in time for their Sports Spectacular afternoon show, they dropped everything and made it happen. 

I left New York for New Orleans Friday afternoon on CBS’s private jet as the only passenger onboard. I would meet my crew in New Orleans. I had called Ali ahead of time and asked if he could make this happen. He said he would leave the key to his suite at the front desk and told me to have the crew set up and ready to shoot before he went to the official post-fight press conference. He’d come to the suite immediately after the fight for just a few minutes and grant me the interview. Of course, my adrenalin was running at 500 percent. My mind was racing as we sat in the suite waiting for his grand entrance: Was this really going to happen? Did I miss any signals? Would some attorney suddenly appear and crash the whole thing? But Ali had always been a gentleman and a man of his word to me. I took a deep breath and waited, mulling over my short list of questions. We would only have five precious minutes of his time.

Winning the fight in the fifteenth round on a unanimous decision, Muhammad sure enough walked into his suite just as he’d promised, exhausted but in good humor. He entered through the door — looking dizzy and exhausted, his hands sore—and walked directly up to our camera as if he were about to punch the lens out and said, “I’d only do this for my friend Jayne.” And as we went into the interview, he said to me, “I’m only granting you something special because you are the greatest just like I am the greatest.” 

We got the interview wrapped up and then he was quickly whisked away to the real post-fight interviews. 

I jumped back onboard the jet and flew straight to New York. It was edited in the morning and by their afternoon show . . . there was Muhammad Ali on CBS Sports Spectacular. They were gracious enough to cut a companion piece of the interview exclusively for my segment on The NFL Today. Now mind you, I didn’t even work for them; I was hired to work the desk of The NFL Today. Sports Spectacular services were not a part of my contract. I had zero obligations to them. But I knew, if I pulled this off, they would no longer be asking, “Who are you?”

I flew back to Los Angeles on the Sunday night nine p.m. flight exhausted, and passed out. 

By the time I woke up Monday morning, my six-week contract had been extended and picked up for the remainder of the year.