Ernestine Sclafani Wiki Bio
Ernestine Sclafani was born on Long Island, New York USA, on 3 August 1962 – her zodiac sign is Leo and she holds American nationality. She is a businesswoman and an entrepreneur, but who might be known best as the wife of American sports columnist and a TV personality Skip Bayless.
Childhood and education
Ernestine was raised on Long Island alongside her brother and sister by their parents, who are both believed to have worked in the real estate business – Ernestine’s mother died of pancreatic cancer in 2013. Her sister is today working as a breast surgeon, while her brother has also become a doctor.
Ernestine was motivated by her parents and her older siblings to pursue a college degree, and focused on her studies from a very early age.
Here we are at the UCLA vs Vanderbilt (Skip’s alma mater)My first ever game with Skip after 15 years!What’s up with…
Posted by Ernestine Sclafani Bayless on Friday, March 6, 2020
She attended a local high school at which she played sports, attended and helped organize whatever events she could, and also practiced acting with the school’s drama club. She matriculated in 1980, and then took a break of two years before enrolling at Suffolk County Community College, from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1986.
Ernestine’s career
Ernestine launched her career in September 1981 when she became an assistant accessories director at Izod Lacoste, presenting their newest of lines to fashion market editors and working closely with the director – she held the job for a year and a half, then in February 1983, Ernestine joined Esmark Apparel working as their assistant marketing director.
While there, she helped create women’s hosiery for brands such as Calvin Klein, Leg Looks and Liz Claiborne, she oversaw the work of the Research and Development department and was in charge of presenting the new lines to the media.
After two years, Ernestine quit and joined Bally of Switzerland when invited to work as their in-house public relations director, putting her in charge of numerous things including men’s and women’s outerwear and footwear, working with the design team and presenting the lines to fashion market editors – the job suited Ernestine well, as well as the salary and she stayed with Bally of Switzerland for 10 years.
In January 1995, she joined Edelman Public Relations Worldwide as their vice-president, managing a 16-person media relations team and after 10 years there, Ernestine joined Weber Shandwick as their vice president and consumer media relations manager – she held the job for 13 years until October 2018, when she founded her own company Ernestine Sclafani Bayless PR and since then has been working as its principal.
Love life and marriage with Skip Bayless
Ernestine met her future other half, Skip Bayless while he was working for the ESPN network. The two were at a business meeting with Kevin Dillion, and as they were attracted to one another, they went on a date several days later. Skip made it clear to Ernestine that his job would always be more important to him than her, which was apparently okay for Ernestine who also wanted to focus on her career – the two bonded over several shared interests, such as Woody Allen’s movies and the music of the ‘60s.
They dated in secret for several years before marrying apparently in 2016, in private ceremony attended by only a few people and Ernestine and Skip have also kept the date of their wedding a secret. They have decided not to have children but to focus on their careers.
Ernestine hasn’t talked about any other men she might have dated, and as of November 2020, she is married to Skip Bayless and doesn’t have children.
Hobbies and other interests
Ernestine is a big lover of animals, and has a pet Maltese dog called Hazel which can often be seen featured in Ernestine’s Instagram pictures. During her teenage years, she occasionally volunteered at a local animal shelter.
During her 20s and 30s, Ernestine had several training sessions at the gym each week and played several sports, while today she only plays golf.
She likes to write, and has written her own book “How to Keep Your Relationship Alive When You Live with a Sports-Obsessed Guy”, published on 10 September 2019. She is also keen on reading and enjoys books based on true events such as “The Perfect Nanny” by Leila Silmani, “Red Joan” by Jennie Rooney and “Beautiful Exiles” by Meg Waite Clayton.
Ernestine is also keen on watching historical movies, with a couple of her favorites being “Glory”, “Schindler’s List” and “Apollo 13”.
Age, height and net worth
Ernestine’s age is 58. She has long blonde hair and green eyes, her height is 5ft 7ins (1.7m) and she weighs around 110lbs (50kgs). As of November 2020, her net worth has been estimated at over $1 million, while Skip’s net worth has been estimated at over $17 million.
Who is Skip Bayless?
John Edward ‘Skip’ Bayless II was born in Oklahoma City, USA, on 4 December 1951 – his zodiac sign is Sagittarius and he holds American nationality. He might be known best for having worked as a commentator in the show “First Take”.
He was raised alongside his sister and his brother Rick Bayless (a chef and restaurateur) by their mother and their father John Sr., who called both John and his mother ‘Skip’ while the nickname eventually became stuck with John. Skip’s parents were the owners of the restaurant Hickory House at which Skip worked in his early teens. He studied at the Northwest Classen High School, where he became interested in basketball and baseball, but after being encouraged by his English teacher, Skip started writing about sports for the school’s newspaper.
Upon matriculation in 1969, he enrolled at Vanderbilt University from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English and history in 1973.
He started working straight after graduation joining the daily newspaper “Miami Herald”, staying with them for two years before moving to another daily newspaper “”The Los Angeles Times”. During his time there, in 1977 Skip won an Eclipse Award for Outstanding Newspaper Writing. He started working for “The Dallas Morning News” in 1977 as their sports columnist, and after around three years moved to work for “The Dallas Times Herald”.
During this period, Skip wrote three books: “God’s Coach: The Hymns, Hype and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry’s Cowboys”, “The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys’ Season on the Edge” and “Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the “Win or Else” Dallas Cowboys. Hell-Bent”, all three of which were about the American football team the Dallas Cowboys, competing in the National Football League (NFL). Skip spent 17 years with “The Dallas Times Herald” and then joined “The Chicago Tribune” as their sports columnist and left them after seven years in July 2001.
After two years of working as a freelancer, contributing to various TV networks such as Fox Sports Net and SportsCenter, Skip was invited to join the ESPN network in 2003, and became a full-time employee in 2004. After 12 years of working with ESPN, it was revealed on 26 April 2016 that he would leave the network, and his final appearance was in an episode of the show “First Take” on 21 June. He then joined Fox Sports, and has since been working with them.
Skip has also been involved in filming – in 2006 he made a cameo appearance in the critically acclaimed sports movie “Rocky Balboa”. The year 2010 saw him appear in the series of documentary movies “30 for 30”, while the following year he appeared in the film “Herschel”.