Saturday, August 09, 2003

By Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV Editor

So will this make him Mr. America?

	Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson will walk down the aisle with WTAE-TV anchor Scott Baker next Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Scott Baker)

A week from today, WTAE-TV anchor Scott Baker will marry Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999. The two met in the mid-'90s, well before her Miss America reign. She enrolled in a seminar Baker routinely leads for college students interested in news careers. After being out of contact for several years, Baker saw her on a segment of "Mr. Food," which Channel 4 used to air during the noon news.

He contacted her, and the two started talking "and it grew out of that," Baker said.

Johnson, who used her Miss America platform to educate the public about diabetes, is a Type I diabetic and co-author of "Mr. Food's Quick and Easy Diabetic Cooking" and author of an autobiography, "Living With Diabetes."

"She's mainly a health-care activist," Baker said of his fiancee, who is a former model with a master's degree in journalism from Regent University, Virginia Beach, Va. She still makes media appearances; Baker said Johnson will tape an episode of the syndicated game show "Pyramid" later this month.

Johnson's Web site, www.nicolejohnson.com, includes a picture of her and Baker at the 2002 Miss America pageant and includes a link to WTAE's Web site, www.thepittsburghchannel.com.

Johnson, 29, moved to Pittsburgh two months ago, Baker said. After the wedding and a honeymoon in Italy, she and Baker, 39, will move into a house north of Pittsburgh. It's Johnson's first marriage and Baker's second. He was previously married to Post-Gazette North columnist Ruth Ann Dailey.

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