Transcontinental memories of ’so many fun’ mark the end
Editor’s note: This is Furman Bisher’s final column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read more:
–Past columns. His last one is below. Read his first one including his moving tribute to his late son and several others.
–Photos of his career. Even one where he’s playing football.
–Video: Bisher reflects on his very first column for the paper
It was April 15, income tax day, in 1950 that this all began. Usually, such a run as this rarely ever carries on this long. Perhaps my act has worn thin. Perhaps I have over-stayed my time. But to an old warrior such as I, it isn’t easy finding an appropriate ending place.
My mind wanders back to the Falcons’ first flirtation with glory. They led the Dallas Cowboys into the shadows of a Sunday afternoon in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, 60,222 fans in a state of exhilaration, a division championship a breath away when the defense broke down. It was over and a city was left heartbroken.
It had been such a colossal event that even Red Smith, the scholarly columnist of the New York Times, had flown in to write of it. After the game, I gave him a lift back to his hotel, and as he collected his tools of trade, and opened the car door, he put a hand on my shoulder and said: “One more day in a cold, dreary press box — God, I love it.”
That said it for a lot of us.
Many a time that memory flashes across my mind, though the number of Sundays has dwindled down, as has the number of columns. Once I wrote six columns a week. I thought I was supposed to. Then five, then four, then three, then down to one. That means I have one day in seven in which to write something that stirs the blood, or something that misses the plate. A stinker. I don’t know that there is a graceful way to take leave. It doesn’t require a lot of space, I know that. (Cheers from the layout editor.)
I do know, as well, that it tugs at the heart. Ye gods, how many of these have I written? So many that many of the keys on this old Royal typing machine are worn thin. (And this column was first given a test run on the machine on which I wrote my first column in 1950.)
How many continents has it been, how many nations, how many flights, how many airports, how many sagging beds in bawdy rooming houses, and how many languages, with or without translation? Oh, and yes, and how many fellow travelers, wonderful friends on all those continents, and on the streets in this town and in my own land?
Then the Olympics, winter and summer, arousing memory of the most excruciating trip of them all, following the Winter Games in France. Catching a train in Notre Dame de Briancon to Chambery, to Geneva, to Frankfurt, to Atlanta, thence to Richmond, then Charlottesville to preside at a dinner. So much for that. I wouldn’t mind doing it again, but my body would disagree.
The Italian heavyweight of some six decades ago, Primo Carnera, known to some as “The Ambling Alp,” returned to the United States for some personal appearances long after he held the title — whose legitimacy was strongly questioned. Nevertheless, he had been the champ. He was a source of much interviewing, of course, during which he was asked what he remembered most pleasantly of his fighting days in this country. “Oh, much good time,” he said, in his fractured English, “so many fun.”
That says it for me in any language. “So many fun.”
Perhaps we shall see each other again at Thanksgiving, or the Masters, but I take my leave today with deep regret. Selah.
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444 comments Add your comment
Ed
October 12th, 2009
12:23 pm
The memories are too many to relate as I was there at your roll-out with the Atlanta paper. May I synopsize with two? The Thanksgiving column my Dad and I read together was coveted like it was the fried chicken drumstick at Sunday lunch or the only present at Christmas. When he came to his end (you had generously corresponded with him) I read every day’s effort to him and he responded as one would with his oldest and best friend. Thank you for that.
Secondly, as a wet-behind-the-ears Sports Editor of my college newspaper you assisted me in getting employed by Neal Ellis of Macon and Savannah at the Savannah Morning News writing a Sunday Sports feature. “Many fun”, but few dollars, so I joined the military as a pilot. While in Viet Nam, my Mother would send me a care package that included all of your columns for the week. It was always a day that I happily anticipated. While no longer flying I have served in or actively supported every ensuing conflict up to now (Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan) and still keep up with you on line. Your columns were/are my safety line to home. Thank you for that. Selah.
BravesFan79
October 12th, 2009
12:32 pm
Best wishes Mr. Bisher, i remember reading your columns many many times during the great Braves run of the 90’s. I hope to read more in the future from you. If the Falcons do something crazy like win it all, i hope you write a guest column filled with past memories.
Marvin Mangrum
October 12th, 2009
12:34 pm
Mr. Bisher, thank you for so many years of sharing your thoughts with me. I read this morning of your retirement, it is a good thing for you a sad day for the rest of us. In 1960 I had a 7th grade teacher, Louise Mankin, in Macon, she told us if you want to know whats going on in Macon read the Macon paper, if you want to know whats going on in the world read the Atlanta Journal. Mr Bisher I have been knowing what was going on in the world for almost 50 years, thanks to you, Mr Outlar, Mr Grizzard and my beloved Celestine. Fifty years, Sir that is a testament to you, because even tho I was told to read your paper you were the one who brought me back, you were the last. Dang, I will miss you, but you have earned your retirement. Thank you, Selah!
Jay
October 12th, 2009
12:35 pm
Furman
I grew up in Atlanta reading your columns and enjoying them. Thanks for enlightening us for many years with your insight, humor and opinions on an array of sports and individuals. You are one of the very few Media types I have respect and I wish you the best!
Thanks Furman!
Respectively – Jay
TM Hudson
October 12th, 2009
12:38 pm
Mr. Bisher, Grew up in Atlanta, Went to Auburn for five years and had a subscription of the AJC because I never could get my day started without reading your column, Hudspeth’s column and the column by the guy who loved his GA Bulldogs and fried everything! You cured my homesickness while I was in college and I have been a loyal reader of yours for many, many years. If you could just do your “What I’m thankful for” column one more time, it would be appreciated by many longtime Atlantans who wish back to the simpler ways the we remember ! Love to you and your family.
Henry
October 12th, 2009
12:39 pm
Thanks Furman! I was lucky enough to be one of the fellow travlers. You picked me up hitch-hiking on US41 in 1958.
BravesFan79
October 12th, 2009
12:42 pm
Froggy: WTF… why would u change it from “I Beat Bisher” to “I Beat the Press.” Yalls marketing department SUCKED!
Turtsnap
October 12th, 2009
12:57 pm
A few have already said it, but I, too, will miss the Thanksgiving pieces. Mr. Bisher is a true Atlanta icon!
Collins Knighton
October 12th, 2009
12:57 pm
Mr. Bisher,
I know you won’t remember me, but, at the start of my broadcast career back in the late 70s and early 80s, I would cover the Falcons on Sunday. You always made it a point to speak to me when you saw me in the press box. That’s a banner I wear with pride. You’ll never know just how much that meant to me. Thank You for that, and for the years of enjoyable reading that is, sometimes, hard to find these days. I look forward to your special contibutions in the future.
apcblog.org » Blog Archive » Furman Bisher Writes Final Column
October 12th, 2009
12:57 pm
[...] the weekend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist Furman Bisher’s final column before retirement appeared in the newspaper and online. Apparently, Bisher typed his column on the [...]
Special Request!
October 12th, 2009
12:58 pm
Dear Mr. Bisher,
If anyone has earned a retirement, it’s you. But may I please BEG you one thing–come out of retirement once a year to continue covering the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. Even if my beloved Jackets lose, it’s a lot more bearable reading it it through the prism of your story-telling.
You have a tremendous gift for transporting the reader with your words and images and I can think of no better proof than this–I graduated GT in the 80’s and my parents, who grew up in Maryland and could not care less about college football [in general] or reading a sports page, always made a point to read your coverage of Georgia Tech games.
You are greatly loved and we all wish you the best in your golden years. It will be a difficult loss for us but we are truly lucky for having you all the years that we did.
A Lazy Columbus Day Linkfest
October 12th, 2009
1:02 pm
[...] great Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has written his last column capping off a wonderful 59 year [...]
Special Request!
October 12th, 2009
1:03 pm
Dear Mr. Bisher,
If anyone has earned a retirement, it’s you. But PLEASE come out of retirement once a year to cover the Georgia Tech-Georgia game. Even if my beloved Jackets lose, it’s a lot more bearable reading it it through the prism of your story-telling.
As I wrote in another thread, you have a tremendous gift for transporting the reader with your words and images and I can think of no better proof than this–I graduated GT in the 80’s and my parents, who grew up in Maryland and could not care less about college football [in general] or reading a sports page, always made a point to read your coverage of Georgia Tech games.
Best wishes in your golden years. It will be a difficult loss for us but we are truly lucky for having you as long as we did.
macrotech
October 12th, 2009
1:03 pm
Five a week, four a week, three and then down to one…..perhaps, you could hit us with a ’seasonal’ thought from time to time? Thank you for all the years where we got to see sports through the eyes of an artist! We’ve ALL been everywhere you’ve been….even if we never left our recliners! You’ve been a blessing and I pray that you’ll enjoy a MOST blessed ‘retirement’! Thank you!!!
Mowreck
October 12th, 2009
1:03 pm
Damn, you beat me again. Never did win a “I beat Bishop” tee shirt. And now retiring in October, you even beat me again, cause I’m retiring in December. Been reading your column for over 50 years Mr. Bishop and really, really enjoy all of them. I always call my kids or send them an email of your column. My daughter went to Tennessee so naturally she is Tenn. fan. We are fighting over my grandson, cause she wants him at Tenn. and I want him at Ga Tech. Good luck to you whatever you decide to do in retirement.
Paul
October 12th, 2009
1:06 pm
I have enjoyed your work over the years. I hope you are blessed with a joyful retirement!
David
October 12th, 2009
1:12 pm
I cannot add any superlatives to describe your career. They have all been used. But please give us a few more Thanksgiving Day columns.
curtis jones
October 12th, 2009
1:17 pm
Thanks Furman. Once a class act, always a class act. As a Southern sports fan, you gave us better than we deserved.
Phil Rushing
October 12th, 2009
1:19 pm
I’ve been fortunate to be able to attend 46 cosecutive Masters tournaments and 49 out of the last 50. It has been a real pleasure over those years to be able to read Furman’s columns describing all the wonderful sights and sounds that have occured at that great event. I will greatly miss him and his inimitable writing style.
Joey Cochran
October 12th, 2009
1:20 pm
I could say no more but Thank You!
DaveDawg96
October 12th, 2009
1:20 pm
Well said. All of it. For 60 years.
Thank you sir. I’ve enjoyed it, and look forward to more in the future.
Paul Marks
October 12th, 2009
1:24 pm
Lewis, Celestine and now Furman gone from the Atlanta newspaper pages. Yet, did I hear of a possible encore? As it is with my 90-year-old father, it sounds like Furman comes running out of the bullpen every morning, full of vinegar. Carpe diem, Mr. Bisher! (And, what was that French phrase you cast in the direction of Marion Campbell at the reporters’ gathering in Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium after yet another Falcon loss in the 1980s?)
GWH Rich
October 12th, 2009
1:28 pm
Thanks for entertaining four generations of sports fans in my family. You will be missed. We wish you the best.
Andy F.
October 12th, 2009
1:31 pm
Thank you, Mr. Bisher, for all that you’ve given us. I’ve read your columns since I was a little boy. For the past twenty of so years, I’ve read your take on things, and most often, agreed with you. Even during those times I didn’t, you wrote with class and without the unfair bias some of your counterparts choose to use in their writing. I wish you the very best in retirement. Thank you again for many years of service to this state. You are truly one of the best in your trade.
RHR
October 12th, 2009
1:32 pm
Bless you, Mr. Bisher. And thank you.
Jim
October 12th, 2009
1:37 pm
The AJC has lost its last sports journalist. What a sad day for all of us who remember this newspaper as being the standard-bearer for journalistic excellence in our region.
Fred Pierce
October 12th, 2009
1:52 pm
From an old high school coach who fondly remembers most o your columns. In particular the one in the late fifties about Bobby Walden, the big toe from Cairo, of the Univ. of Ga whom I had the pleasure of coaching. You have earned it.Best wishes
Jorge Abadia
October 12th, 2009
1:55 pm
Thanks so much, Mr. Bisher. Having been born and raised in Atlanta, your columns were a big part of my early sports opinions. You saw me through the Braves of Bob Horner, the Hawks of Nique, Spud, and Tree, and The Bartkowski Falcons. You gave me such a great perspective on ‘91, ‘98, and all points in between. It’s the end of an era for us all, Furman. You will be missed.
PTC DAWG
October 12th, 2009
2:04 pm
Best of Wishes to your Mr. Bisher…..
Daniel
October 12th, 2009
2:06 pm
Furman-
Thank you for all the great columns over the years. I am 37 years old, born and raised in Atlanta. I remember reading your columns with my father, particularly on Sundays. He passed away six years ago, and everytime I read your column it reminded me of him. So, bittersweet.
Congrats on your retirement and your career, and thank you from one lonely son.
Selah.
Margie Jones
October 12th, 2009
2:14 pm
Mr. Bisher, you gave us more than we deserved. Have a wonderful retirement! I will miss your work!
Will
October 12th, 2009
2:15 pm
Mr. Bisher,
Thank you for your dedication to the AJC and its readers. You are a tremendous columnist. We didn’t always see eye-to-eye and even once had an e-mail debate over the Wilson Betemet-Wily Aybar trade, but your opinions will be missed. Best of luck in the future.
Capt Caveman
October 12th, 2009
2:36 pm
Enjoyed it every column Mr. Bisher. I remember when you and Lewis Grizzard were the main reasons for buying the paper just to read your columns.
Thanks for everything.
steve whitmire
October 12th, 2009
2:42 pm
I Didn’t get to read your column as often since I moved to Charleston, s.c. four years ago, God’s country and former home of Rhett Butler and John C. Calhoun, but for many many years I enjoyed your column in the AJC, you are one of America’s best sports writers and will be sorely missed.
wildbill
October 12th, 2009
2:43 pm
One of the delights in reading the Sports Page of the AJC for decades has been the columns of Furman Bisher. The topics have always been timely with a literate style for the everyman to read, contemplate, analyze and enjoy. Those who have been fortunate to read him for a lifetime will be akin to losing a close friend. One whose thoughts the reader cannot wait to peruse, but which will no longer be available for our literary satisfaction.
Lee Cook
October 12th, 2009
2:53 pm
Wow……..Furman Bisher has been inking columns since before I was born, and I’m no spring chicken. My first memory of college football goes back to the early 1960’s when Bobby Dodd’s teams were dominating almost everyone. My dad would take me to some of the Tech games, and being onhand for the game where Bobby Dodd and Billy Lothridge tamed the Alabama Crimson Tide 7-6 at Grant Field made me a died in the woll Yellow Jacket Fan. The next morning I read the AJC, and became a died in the wool Furman Bisher fan. Nobody told the story more eloquently. Nobody ever did…….Nobody ever will……..Thanks Furman.
John
October 12th, 2009
3:09 pm
We love you Furman.Thanks for the great memories. You’ll always be part of our family.
David Galloway
October 12th, 2009
3:22 pm
Mr. Bisher,
I grew up in Atlanta reading your columns. You trained me to read a journalist through time, to weigh a perspective other than my own. Now my columns read extend from sports but it was your unique ability to capture a moment with words that inspired me to write. I am grateful to you and for you. I join you and others in the regret of an end point. And yet, I give thanks for the many gifts you have given to me and my beloved Atlanta. Thanks for the memories!
David Galloway
John
October 12th, 2009
3:28 pm
Early Thanksgiving: I am thankful for Furman’s gift with words… and that he shared them with us.
All the best.
raindawg722
October 12th, 2009
3:33 pm
Thank you, Mr. Bisher. I enjoyed reading your columns. The talking heads that dominate the sports scene these days should be required to read every single one of them.
Ricardo
October 12th, 2009
3:36 pm
Mr. Bisher -
While I have always enjoyed your “regular” work, I want to thank you most of all for your Thanksgiving articles. I remember reading them as a little boy to my father and we would always talk about the different things that you were thankful for. Some funny, some sad – they were a source of great enjoyment for me and something that I always looked forward to.
Thank you and good luck.
Mike
October 12th, 2009
3:45 pm
I took your picture on SSI for a magazine and saw you in the press box at the GA/FLA game a week later. It was a great honor to meet you. We will miss your words.
winston w sharp jr
October 12th, 2009
3:49 pm
I’m a 68 yr old native of Atlanta and I have been very fortunate to be exposed to your great articles all my life. Whether it be horse racing or golf or football etc you’ve been there with a style of your on. There have been a slew of great writers come and go over the years at the AJC you will be missed by this senior citizen more than any of them. I am glad to read your health is good, and I hope you and your wife have many more good years together.Lastly as a life long Ga Tech fan I thank you for your fairness, and great coverage over the years. Thanks again for a job well done by an OLD SCHOOL gentleman..
Jim Culbreth
October 12th, 2009
3:53 pm
Enter your comments here
Mr. Bisher, I had the plesure of meeting you once several years ago at Dr. Blanchard’s Dental office in Fayetteville. We both had a few minutes in the waiting room, you were a patient and my wife was the Dental Hygenist scheduled to see you. As a native Georgian who followed your columns since the late 50’s, I introduced myself and told you how much I enjoyed reading your columns in the Atlanta Journal and the Constitution. We talked about the Sunday afternoon college football roundup TV show that was made up of the finest sports writers in the country consisting of Furman Bisher, Jessie Outler, Ed Danforth and coach Harry Mehre. You sir are a living treasure in sports writing and will be truly missed. Thanks for all of the great memories which made Atlanta and the surrounding counties a great place to grow up in. May God bless you with good health and happiness.
Just A Fan
October 12th, 2009
3:58 pm
Thanks for the fine entertainment. Good Luck. You truly are a sensible gentleman..
Reid Adair
October 12th, 2009
4:01 pm
Mr. Bisher, thanks for your years of work. You have made following sports in Atlanta, the nation and the world much more enjoyable.
Dennis
October 12th, 2009
4:13 pm
We are losing a giant in the profession. Special thanks to you Mr. Bisher,a true southern gentleman, for many wonderful memories. You will be missed.
R. J. Head
October 12th, 2009
4:26 pm
So long, ye libelous lout! We in Alabama shall not miss you in the slightest minimum. Your act, as you call it, was worn thin over 40 years ago when your treachery in the Saturday Evening Post was exposed. You were and remain a discredit to honest journalism everywhere.
situationalmike
October 12th, 2009
4:27 pm
As someone who “Beat Bisher” and won a tee shirt
a long time ago I say…God Bless and Godspeed Mr.
Furman Bisher.
Katrina Parker
October 12th, 2009
4:35 pm
Furman,
You’re a class act. I had the wonderful privilege of teeing it up with you in your annual golf tourney a few years back. You are a breath of fresh air. Congrats on a career very well done.