The doorbell rings and Barbara Boyd bounds up the stairs to the door with the gusto of someone in their twenties.

“You’re pretty spry going up those stairs,” I comment … wondering if at age 52 I could do as well. Then she shares her fitness secret. “You know what I do?” she asks, sinking back into her comfy couch with a twinkle in her eyes and her so-familiar smile. “I play the Wii every night. First I play tennis, then I bowl, then I box … that will really work you out. Then, I dance.”

I don’t know why I would be surprised. Now in her early 80s, Barbara Boyd has never been one to do the expected. From the time she hit the airwaves in 1969 at age 40 with no on-air experience but confidence to place her in the lime light time and time again, she has made history … much to her own surprise.

It’s not that she didn’t have a life plan, but her vivacious personality and natural showmanship led the way. As a kid she would slide into her hometown Evanston, Illinois post office after hours to do a little tap dancing in a poodle skirt. (And having stood in line there on occasion, I can imagine the temptation that fabulous marble floor gave a pair of happy feet.) She majored in speech at the University of Illinois and returned home to Evanston, where she met her husband of 54 years Ted Boyd.

She recalls those early days of their courtship with a bit of a school-girl giggle. Their first meeting at the Evanston YMCA where he was the director, showing off his lightning-fast badminton serve; her watching him running dribbling drills for an intramural basketball team. “I thought he was so cute!” she says … making “cute” nearly two syllables. “He asked my mom if he could pay her to eat home-cooked meals at our house.” And the rest, as they say, was history. They married in 1953, and in 1962 moved back to Indianapolis where he worked at the Fall Creek YMCA. She had three children, had a few odd jobs, and occasionally took classes in radio and television production, but never worked in the business.

Until 1969. That’s when Barbara Boyd caught the eye of a documentary crew featuring Indianapolis' new Head Start program, where she worked as an office manager. At a time when television news was making a concerted appearance at being “ethnically diverse,” they called the HeadStart office hoping to offer the classroom teacher an audition opportunity. Boyd took the call and quipped, “Well, if you're looking for a star, here I are!" Eight women, including the classroom teacher and Barbara auditioned for the job.

In retrospect, Boyd was a cool customer. “I was all flip with my answers during the process; I was making good money -- $10,000 a year,” she laughs “and really didn’t NEED the job.” Nonetheless, on Feb. 10, 1969, then-news director Jerry Chapman (with quite a bit of encouragement from public affairs director Steve Scott) hired Boyd to be the first African-American woman to have an on-air role on a television news program in Indiana.

Little did he know that his latest hire would go on to win countless awards and honors, anchor the noon news, become a consumer advocate, and perhaps most importantly would be her impact on breast cancer awareness. But not before her house was destroyed by fire.

Don't miss Part 2 of Barbara's story.