We'll Miss Ya Larry

When I woke up this morning to the news that Larry Munson had passed away, I immediately began to think of what he meant to me as a Georgia fan. Unlike many of you, I did not grow up in a Georgia family. While I would occasionally watch Georgia play on television, I worked almost every Saturday during high school and did not know much about Larry Munson before I came to Georgia. But when I arrived on campus, I kept hearing about people turning off the sound on their televisions during the games to listen to Munson. This was a new concept to me, but I soon understood why people preferred Larry to the babbling idiots on television.

Larry Munson was a true throwback in the broadcast industry. Today, broadcasters are trained to be objective and to not show favoritism. And while Scott Howard has carried on Munson's tradition of being a blatant homer for the Dawgs, nobody could do it quite like Larry. During my second year at college, I had a ticket to see the Dawgs take on the Vols in Knoxville. But when the people I was supposed to go with backed out (and rather than driving up there by myself) I sold my ticket to a friend from high school. That friend just happened to be the girlfriend (and now wife) of Georgia quarterback David Greene. Watching the game on TV (and listening to Musnon on the radio) in my apartment, I felt sad that I had missed the game, but glad I was able to hear one of the greatest calls in college football history.

The Munson's Greatest Calls DVDs introduced me to the full collection of Larry's best moments. For any of us who attended Georgia during the early 2000's, the Munson's Greatest Calls: The Mark Richt Era DVD is a must have. Despite the fact that I saw many of those plays live, I will always remember them with Munson making the call. The DVD includes what I consider to be the last great Munson call, that took place when the Dawgs took the field in black jerseys to host Auburn. It was Munson's classic opening, with a slight twist: "Get the picture now. Only this time it's a little different. The helmets are still red, but the jerseys are black."

My father called me just after the 2008 victory over Central Michigan. No one knew that this was going to be Larry's final game, but my dad seemed concerned. As a kid, my dad rarely watched football games on television. He would sit down and watch Braves games almost every night, but never really watched football. When I went to Georgia, my dad began watching games and he only watched them with the radio on. He loved Larry's passion and it turned my dad into a Georgia fan. Now, I talk to my father every week after the game. It is a bond we share and I feel like Larry Munson had something to do with it.

Larry is a true Georgia legend and there will never be another one like him. He will always hold a special place in my heart.

Larry, thanks for always being you. We'll miss you.

For some more information on how Larry came to Georgia, check out this story I wrote earlier this year.

The Countdown 2011: 86 Days to Go

How Larry Munson Came to Georgia

Larry Munson will always be the voice of the Georgia Bulldogs. From Lindsay Scott to the Hobnail Boot, Munson's calls are at the very heart of what Georgia football means to many fans. Most people know that Munson sat in the Georgia booth for over 40 years (1966-2008), but few Georgia fans know about his career before Georgia. Here's a look at how Larry came to Athens.

Larry grew up in Minneapolis and served as a medic in the Army during World War II. After attending broadcast school and working at a small radio station in North Dakota, he applied for a job in Cheyenne, Wyoming, used a recording of an Ohio State and Minnesota football game as an audition. In Cheyenne, Munson met and befriended Curt Gowdy. When Gowdy left his position calling football games for the University of Wyoming, he recommended Munson for the job. And so started the career of Larry Munson broadcasting sports.

Gowdy had left for a minor league baseball announcing position in Oklahoma City, and when he moved on to call games for the New York Yankees in 1949, Munson once again replaced him. In 1952, Larry moved to Nashville, continuing to call minor league baseball games and appearing on one of the first television fishing shows ever produced. He also convinced Vanderbilt University to begin broadcasting college basketball games on a local AM affiliate. the success of basketball on the station led them to add football to its schedule with Munson as its lead broadcaster.

Larry Munson would leave the state of Tennessee for Georgia in early 1966. But his main reason for coming south was not Georgia football. He had been hired as a member of the Atlanta Braves broadcast team for their first season in Atlanta. During Spring Training, Munson saw in the paper that Georgia radio announcer Ed Thilenius was leaving the position. He made a call to Georgia athletic director Joel Eaves about the open position. He got the job and took over as Georgia broadcaster that fall (despite continuing to live in Nashville. He stopped calling Braves games midway through that season.) The rest is Georgia football history.

During his career with Georgia, Munson continued to work in many different areas. He continued to appear on a hunting and fishing show in Nashville for the next 12 years, called Georgia basketball games from 1987-1996, and called games for the Atlanta Falcons from 1989 - 1992.

At the 57 second point of the video below, you can here some of Munson's calls from his days with the Falcons.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d81b7a4a7/Top-100-Deion-Sanders?r_src=ramp

The Countdown 2009: 43 Days to Go

43

Years that Larry Munson was the voice of the Georgia Bulldogs. "Run Lindsay, Run", "Hobnail Boot", and "Hunker Down" will live on in lore of Georgia football for ever.

The Countdown 2009: 44 Days to Go

44

Seconds left on the clock when Georgia got the ball back late in the 4th quarter of the 2001 Georgia- Tennessee game. David Greene completed a five yard touchdown pass to Verron Haynes for the Georgia win. In the immortal words of Larry Munson, "We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose. We just crushed their face."

The Countdown 2009: 73 Days to Go

73

As in 1973, the year of Larry Munson's famous Andy Johnson call in Knoxville. Georgia QB Andy Johnson, an Athens native and a star QB for Athens High (now Clarke Central), faked the pitch on an option late in the game. The UT team bit and Johnson walked into the end zone, Georgia won 35-31. One of the surprising things about that play was that when Johnson faked the pitch, he actually dropped the ball, but it bounced up right back into his hands as UT had installed astroturf. Listen for Munson's call at the beginning of this video.

"My God, Georgia's just beaten Tennessee in Knoxville."

The Countdown 2009: 93 Days to Go

93

Yards gained on the touchdown pass from Buck Belue to Lindsay Scott to beat Florida in 1980.

Here is the footage of that amazing play:

AJ Green! AJ Green! My God a touchdown!

I wonder what Larry would have said about the game winning score on Saturday.


Picture courtesy of the AJC.

My Larry Munson Memories

I was born in Ohio and moved to the state of Georgia when I was 6. My parents were graduates of Morehead State University in Kentucky, whose very small football tradition consists of Phil Simms and beating the crap out of Marshall in "We are Marshall". So, needless to say, unlike many of the other posters on this blog I did not grow up on the voice of Larry Munson. After heading to the University of Georgia in 2000 and becoming a rabid Dawg fan, I witnessed the tail end of an amazing career for Larry and through DVD and the Internet, discovered his other famous calls I was missing during the first 18 years of my life. While I may not have heard any of them live at the time, when I think of these moments in my head, I will always think of Larry Munson.

Georgia Tech 2006: The "Last Great Munson Call". Plain and simple, he proceeded to say that they probably killed Loran. Classic.

"MASSAQUOI!"

Auburn 2002: I was in the third row in the opposite end zone. Until I got back to Athens on Sunday, I still thought it was actually Fred Gibson who caught the ball. The perfect call during the march to our First SEC championship in 20 years.

"We're on the 19, you gotta get to the 4 for the first down. Crowd roars at us, 3 wideouts. Man, we've had some shots haven't we? Snap to David Greene, there he goes in the corner again and we jump up... TOUCHDOWN! OH GOD A TOUCHDOWN! In the corner! With 85 seconds, somebody went up high. Was it Watson or Gibson? Michael Johnson up high, we're gonna put glasses on it. And they stagger down into the screen in the fences down in the corner. Michael Johnson turned around and got up in the air. We caught the ball! Its 23-21 with 85 seconds. He turned around and jumped. David Greene in a couple of times missed some opportunities like that. He caught it up high under his neck and had a foot in and knew it, and then got knocked out. Billy Bennett just put the extra point up there good. Its 24-21. David Greene just threw it in the corner and Michael Johnson who he's used a lot in this 4th quarter got racked up in the air, but hung on, and had his foot down in there... We scored!"

Florida 1980: This one became a personal favorite. The most amazing moment of the 1980 championship year and I wasn't even born yet.

Florida in a stand-up five, they may or may not blitz, Belue third down on the 8, in trouble, he got a block behind him going to throw on the run, complete on the 25 to the 30, Lindsay Scott 35, 40, Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. ... Run Lindsay, 25, 20, 15, 10, Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! ... Well, I can't believe it. 92 yards and Lindsay really got in a foot race I broke my chair. I came right through a chair. A metal steel chair with about a 5 inch cushion, I broke it. The booth came apart. The stadium... well the stadium fell down, now they do have to renovate this place... they'll have to rebuild it now. This is incredible. You know this game has always been called the World's Greatest Cocktail Party, do you know what's gonna happen here tonight, and up at St. Simmons and Jeckyl Island, and all those places where all those dawg people have got those condominiums for 4 days. Man is there going to be some property destroyed tonight! 26-21, Dawgs on top. We were gone. I'd gave up, you did too. We were out of it and gone. Miracle!"

Tennessee 2001: The only call on this list I actually heard happen. With my high school class mate David Greene at quarterback, Larry made my favorite memory of a Georgia football game that I wasn't at in person.

And now, Greene makes him lineup on the right in the slot, we have 3 receivers. Tennessee playing what amounts to a 4-4, Fake, and there's somebody Touchdown! My God a Touchdown! We threw it to Haynes. We just stuffed them with five seconds left! My God almighty, did you see what he did! David Greene just straightened up and we snuck the fullback over! Haynes is keeping the ball! Haynes is come running all the way across to the bench. We just dumped it over 26-24. We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot and broke their nose. We just crushed their faces!"

Florida 2004: I have often called this one of the the happiest days of my life. We finally beat Florida (on my fifth and final try). Seeing pictures of this one and hearing Larry's voice can make me cry.

We are back on the 15 yard line, 3rd down. Gators in a 5, we're in an I. Fake, and he fires right down the middle! TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! Fred Gibson called a ball running right to left. Greene hit 'em...Greene hit 'em with a 15 yarder. He was barely in bounds on that back sideline... on that back line. 30-21, Don't give up!"

As my love of Georgia football has grown, so has my father's. In recent years, he has picked up a habit that many Georgia fans have practiced for years: turning off the TV announcers and cranking up Munson. We hate to see you go Larry, but we'll never forget the joy that you have brought us. Hope the fish are biting!

Larry Munson: Better Than Being There

The gang at B'NE thought there wasn't a better tribute to Larry Munson than the one Lewis Grizzard gave him from the 1978 Kentucky game during the Wonder Dawgs season. None of us were alive then, but we wish were. And what Georgia fan hasn't heard this call over and over again...

Larry (before the kick): Rex Robinson from Marietta, Georgia...Oh God, I spoke with Robinson's folks in the lobby of the hotel today...

From Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You; 1979 (Lewis Grizzard)
Larry Munson: Better Than Being There

Sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning, my telephone rang. Even the ring sounded drunk. Among a number of other bad things, alcohol in large quantities dulls the ability of the user to tell time.

I muttered a groggy, hesitant, "Hello?"

"Gooooooo Daaaawgs!" was the reply from the other end. Deliver me from Billy Bulldog when it's the middle of the night, Georgia won, and the whisky hasn't run out.

"That you, Dorsey?" I asked. It had to be. It had to be Dorsey Hill, the world's biggest Bulldog fan. Dorsey Hill thinks when you die you go to Vince Dooley's house. He can't wait.

Last year, when Georgia lost to Kentucky, 33-0, Dorsey claimed it didn't count because Kentucky was on probation for recruiting violations and had too many players from New Jersey.

"Best team money could buy," is how he described the victorious Wildcats, who went on to tie for the Southeastern Conference title. Dorsey dies hard.

I was awake enough by now to realize why the telephone call. Only hours before, Georgia had avenged last season's loss to Kentucky with a thrilling 17-16 victory in Lexington. The Bulldogs had trailed 16-0 in the third quarter.

"I never gave up," Dorsey said. "After the miracle at Grant Field Saturday, I knew the Lord would give us one, too."

He was referring to Georgia Tech's equally thrilling 17-13 defeat of Florida Saturday afternoon. Dorsey doesn't like Georgia Tech or anyone else who does.

"I like it when we sweep a double-header," he explains. "That's when Georgia wins and Tech loses."

I have never quite understood that thinking, but there are those among the Georgia Tech followers who feel the same about the Bulldogs.

"I wouldn't pull for Georgia," a Tech man once told me, "with one engine out on the team plane."

I thought Saturday was one of the grandest days in Georgia collegiate football history. Tech wins its sixth straight and Grant Field hasn't been that full of life in years.

That old house on North Avenue literally trembled with delight when Eddie Lee Ivery scored the Yellow Jackets' winning touchdown.

And Georgia's drive to the Rex Robinson field goal in the final moments was a classic profile in sporting courage. Georgia is only two victories - Florida and Auburn - away from another SEC championship and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. That is astounding when you consider that in the pre-season, the Bulldogs bore a strong resemblance to Vanderbilt.

I am almost frightened to consider the ramifications of a Falcons' victory over the Rams Monday night at the stadium. If the clinkers win, close the schools and banks and I demand a parade.

There was one other hero Saturday besides the Eddie Lee Iverys, the Willie McClendons, and the Rex Robinsons. He is a fiftyish fellow from Minnesota.

He worked in Wyoming for a time, and then spent years and years in Nashville. He moved to Atlanta only a few months ago, but he is one of us now.

"The traffic here," he says, "is murder."

Larry Munson has been broadcasting Georgia football games for thirteen years. Saturday night was his finest hour. His description of the closing moments of the Georgia-Kentucky game, said a man listening with me, "is Bobby Thomson's home run against the Dodgers all over again."

It was so good, the Sunday paper reprinted Munson's call of the winning Georgia field goal word-for-word.

"It's set down, it looks good - watch it! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! Three seconds left! Rex Robinson put 'em ahead, 17-16!"

It was so good, Dorsey Hill said, "listening to Larry Munson was better than being there."

Frame that one, Larry. There is no higher praise.

--Lewis Grizzard

Larry Munson Retires

Georgiadogs.com has the announcement

You're the man, Larry. You're the man.

This season is for you and our victory over Bama will be in your honor.