Furman Bisher: We lost a legend, I lost a friend
Furman Bisher: One of few worthy of "legend" being attached to his name. (Jason Getz/AJC)
Every few weeks, the same thoughts would roll through my head:
I just had a conversation with the man who sat on the front porch sipping ice tea with Ty Cobb.
I just exchanged emails with the man who scored the only interview with “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
The man who watched Cy Young pitch, the man who saw Joe Louis box, the man who covered the very first post-bootlegging NASCAR race — one of the few people who legitimately deserved to have the word “legend” attached to his name — just dialed my cell phone to say, “Hello, young man. I like what you wrote . . .”
I’m sad today, not just because I lost a friend and former colleague in Furman Bisher but because this is like a door to history slamming shut for all of us.
In a few weeks, I’ll be going to Augusta for the Masters and I won’t be able to turn to my right and exchange thoughts with the man who played golf with Bobby Jones.
Bisher wrote his first column for the Atlanta Constitution in 1950. I was born nine years later. When I came to Atlanta in 1989, Bisher was 71. People told me he was going to retire soon. Soon turned out to be 20 years later.
When he finally left this newspaper in 2009, I asked Furman what he was going to do.
“I’m going to get up in the morning and think of something to write,” he said.
Then he laughed at the irony of that statement.
Furman Bisher sits down to write his first column for the Atlanta Constitution in 1950.
We talked about about sports. We talked about life. We talked about the changing media and the state of the newspaper industry. Eventually, I got around to asking him again about Ty Cobb and Joe Jackson, because I could never hear him tell stories enough times.
“People look at me like I’m in a museum or something,” he said. “It’s like I’m one of those stone things, talking to you. A talking statue. They can’t quite understand it. They look at me and say, ‘You really knew him?’ It really didn’t strike me as that unusual at the time. I had known Cobb before. I’d seen him blow his stack at dinner. I had never seen Shoeless Joe before. When we spoke, he said, ‘This will be the first time I tell this story and the last.’ We got $250 apiece for that story from Sport Magazine. That was good money. It was 1949.”
Before news traveled with the speed of a Tweet, Furman Bisher painted pictures for us. He wrote with a voice. When he was revved up about a topic, and that was more often than not, the words jumped off the page. It was as if he was sitting next to you, talking into your ear.
If he liked you, you knew it.
If he didn’t like you, you knew it.
Nobody ever had to ask, “I wonder what Furman thinks?”
Stan Kasten, the former longtime Atlanta sports executive, certainly experienced both sides of Bisher. It’s not well-known, but Kasten loves having different business cards made up to describe his ventures. (True story: When he stepped down as president of the Braves, Hawks and Thrashers, Kasten said, “Hey Jeff, here’s my new card,” and he handed me a blank card.)
Bisher inspired one of Kasten’s cards.
“He wrote that I was ‘a not altogether unworthy servant,’” Kasten said with a chuckle. “I thought that was kind of his way of complimenting somebody. I took that with great pride. You can bet I had cards made up that said, ‘Not Altogether Unworthy Servant.’”
Furman sent me an email in November, a couple of days after the LSU-Alabama game, which I had covered.
“Jeff: Les Miles played his hand like a smart gambler. Waited till Saban dealt him the right hand and nailed him. Probably one of the most popular victories in college football since Rutgers beat Princeton. Er, uh, or did Princeton beat Rutgers? You do good work—FB”
We spoke a few times after that. We exchanged a few emails during the last round of baseball Hall of Fame voting. I told him I was checking the box by Dale Murphy’s name again.
“Bravo and good for you. We need all the recruits we can get. I’ve been voting for him for years, but to no avail. Not much chance ever I’m afraid, but I ain’t quitting.–FB”
I told him I was looking forward to seeing him at the Masters. I had heard he was having some back issues and asked him if would be well enough to attend the tournament . I just looked back this morning and realized he never responded to that email.
It was well-known Furman ended columns with the Hebrew word, “Selah.” It’s punctuation that appears at the end of verses in Psalms and has been interpreted different ways: Forever. Pause. Reflect.
I will forever pause and reflect on a man I was fortunate to know and could call a friend. And to Furman, if you’re reading this: If people viewed you as some talking statue in a museum, it’s a term of endearment.
Selah.
By Jeff Schultz
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258 comments Add your comment
Carl Wilson
March 20th, 2012
5:38 pm
I’m proud to say that he is/was my Facebook friend. I enjoyed reminiscing about the old Atlanta Crackers with Furman. I published a note about Furman just now on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150673095759146
Very good BLOG article, Jeff.
Hey Facts
March 20th, 2012
5:40 pm
What do you have for Holt/Graning?
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
5:52 pm
Facts…………..Kentucky had a Black football player in 60
damngooddawg!
March 20th, 2012
5:56 pm
Remember Bisher, Ed Thilenius and Munson’s weekly TV show? Man that was great!
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
6:00 pm
Kentucky had a black player in 60, Tech had a black player in 69 that started in 70 at QB. HAHAHA Bryant didn’t start anything he just on the bandwagon.
A press release from Bama about the bear and you think that is not Propaganda. that is too rich. Nice article trying to make bryant a leader in the recruitment of black athletes is an attempt to whitewash the past. I am pretty sure a lil basketball Kentucky played had MORE to do with black athletes getting a shot in the SEC over ANYTHING you want to say about the bear.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
6:04 pm
Facts you know the 1966 Texas Western team that beat RUPP opened more eyes than bear.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
6:07 pm
Facts…….The 1960 national championship and the black athlete
Richard Linde, 21 April 2007
Jim Owens’ 1960 football team will be honored during the halftime of the USC game (Sept 29) as national champions. Minnesota, which was named the national champion by polls taken before the bowl games, lost to the Huskies, 17-7, in the 1961 Rose Bowl. (Photo: Coach Jim Owens and quarterback Bob Schloredt).
Mississippi, which was ranked second behind Minnesota going into the bowl games, concluded the season with a better record (10-0-1) than Washington.
In fact, HickokSports.com lists Minnesota and Mississippi as co-champions for the 1960 season.
The Helms Athletic Foundation (HAF) poll, which was taken after the bowl games, voted UW national champions that year. The HAF, based in Los Angeles, used a panel of experts to name a national champion every year from 1883 to 1982.
Why doesn’t Mississippi have as much claim to the 1960 championship as Washington? Mississippi had a better record than the Huskies and was the number two team going into the bowl games, the HAF poll notwithstanding.
Answer: Mississippi of the SEC didn’t have any African Americans on its football team and that should be reason enough to exclude it from championship consideration in my opinion.
In 1966, Nat Northington, who went to Kentucky, became the SEC’s first black football player.
Mississippi didn’t suit up an African American until 1971, after it recruited Ben Williams.
Aside from its racial import, not recruiting African Americans meant that Mississippi, as well as the SEC, did not recruit their population base as well as they could have; that is, the SEC did not recruit the most talented players available. Fielding an integrated team in those days meant, however, having just a handful of blacks on a team.
Jim Owens’ 1960 team had four blacks on its roster (i.e., Joe Jones, Charlie Mitchell and two all-conference selections, Ray Jackson and George Fleming). The AAWU was a non-segregated conference and although small in number, most of the African Americans who played in the AAWU made their presence felt.
For example, Willie Wood of USC, the conference’s first black quarterback, led USC to a victory over Owens’ 1959 team, tagging UW with its only loss of the season, 22-15. Later, Wood would go on to becoming a dominating defensive back for the Green Bay Packers.
Going way back in time, baseball legend Jackie Robinson led UCLA to a win over UW in 1939 (see historical notes below).
None of the racial unrest that surrounded the Huskies in 1968 surfaced with the 1960 team (see historical notes below and an article on Jim Owens.)
Mississippi’s schedule in 1960 consisted of these segregated powerhouses: Houston, Kentucky, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Arkansas, LSU, Tennessee-Chattanooga (non div-1A), Mississippi State, and Rice.
UW’s only loss in 1960 was to Navy, 15-14, and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino (5′9″, 181). The Middies won in the last seconds of the game via a 32-yard field goal. Charlie Mitchell and Joe Jones, both African Americans, combined for 107 yards on 21 carries, out-dueling Bellino, as a combo, who had 53 yards on 14 carries.
Missouri (10-1) might have a legitimate claim to the 1960 national championship since it beat Navy, 21-14, in the Orange Bowl. The Tigers were named number one by the Poling Poll. UW’s claim rests with the more venerable HAF poll and the fact it beat then-number-one Minnesota.
Jason In Bama
March 20th, 2012
6:18 pm
I’m so glad to see that a few readers have reminded us of Mr. Bisher’s rather sordid history.
There’s plenty of evidence — for those willing to spend a few minutes to look for it — that Bisher was on the wrong side of history in the Bryant/Wally Butts Story, and on the so-called Holt/Granning Incident. In fact, court records from the libel trial show that Bisher played a central role in an outright misrepresentation. It’s disappointing then, though probably not surprising, that the AJC choice to look the other way by continuing Bisher’s employment for the next 47 odd years.
Is it rude to speak ill of the dead? In most cases, certainly, but Bisher is one of those rare exceptions. Here’s a man who could have put his clearly heinous behavior behind both him and the public (i.e., via some apology, mea culpa, something!); however, he choice to go to his grave without doing so, thereby confirming once and for all his true character.
Folks, some of you might not like it, but this is the PERFECT time to bring balance to this story (Mr. Schulz certainly didn’t). If not now, then when?
And Bisher worked for a newspaper, the one place where truth should triumph over everything else; how much sadder then that Bisher was able to continue in such high, influential position for so many years.
Again, Bisher’s actions make these negative comments at his death a necessity. If the Atlanta media won’t have the guts to tell the complete truth, then who will? The answer is in he little folks like me, and a few other readers. This is not exactly balance that is deserving here (no, not versus a billion-dollar media conglomerate), but it’s certainly better than nothing.
Additionally, this quote attributed to Bisher by Shulz, “…Waited till Saban dealt him the right hand and nailed him. Probably one of the most popular victories in college football since Rutgers beat Princeton”, is telling in the extreme. It shows that Bisher still carried a grudge against Alabama, a school that literally knocked Georgia Tech permanently into the second and third tiers of college football. But why?
Wait. I think I just answered my own question.
Thank you.
JSS
March 20th, 2012
6:34 pm
Wow, you folks (both sides) cannot even go and pay tribute to a man without crawling into the muck! POAD, are you referring to Dennis Jackson (1960)? He was at Murray State (not UK). The first two players at Kentucky and the SEC were Grep Page and Nat Northington in 1967. And UK, not Adolph Rupp fought reintegrating his basketball style (he’d coached black players in Kansas HS)! One reason why Louisville and Western KY have to this day larger followings among blacks in Southeast (and in KY as a whole) is because of UK’s (not Rupp’s) hinderance to allowing blacks to play at UK! Tom Payne did not play at UK until 1970. No SEC or many ACC teams have clean hands. I do credit Tech going whole hog when they brought Eddie McAshan aboard. It was a brave move, you can ask Tony Flanagan what it is like to face demons…
Jason In Bama
March 20th, 2012
6:39 pm
Mr. JSS,
Mr. POAD was not quoting FROM the article; rather, he cut and pasted an ENTIRE article written by Richard Linde. POAD simply forgot to include the quotation marks.
@Jason in Bama
March 20th, 2012
6:45 pm
Dude you have bigger issues than Mr. Bisher dying. You need help. Asking rhetorical questions and answering them yourself is a possible sign of dementia. Are you on medication? If not then please seek help. Thanks
Wreckmaniac
March 20th, 2012
6:53 pm
Eddie Macashan was the first black QB in south. He played for Ga Tech. Holt/Graning and the Bill Curry at Bama story have nothing to do with “progressive” football coaching.
@Jason in Bama
March 20th, 2012
6:53 pm
FYI- today with all the coverage, what Darwin Holt did to Chick Graning would result in a criminal charge against Holt. He would not be eligible to play. Take off your crimson glasses and research it.
Don’t use the multitude of Bama websites. Good Grief
Wreckmaniac
March 20th, 2012
6:59 pm
Darn right Furman was a Tech reporter. He worked for the ATLANTA newpaper. Not the ATHENS newspaper. Not the BIRMINGHAM newspaper. His job was to cover the HOME team and not every team in the southeast. Until the Braves arrived the only HOME teams to write about were the Crackers and Tech. The only other topic to cover was high school sports.
Get Rid of the New Kawasucki - JJ
March 20th, 2012
7:11 pm
Get rid of the New Kawasucki – AKA JJ….he is turning into the next albatross that we need to send to the discard/rejects pile.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
7:17 pm
JSS sorry 66 was Kentucky’s first black player.
Jason In Bama
March 20th, 2012
7:21 pm
“Darn right Furman was a Tech reporter. He worked for the ATLANTA newpaper.”
So that justifies lying? Is that correct?
DugTyJerry
March 20th, 2012
8:03 pm
Roll Tide, Furman.
@Jason in Bama
March 20th, 2012
8:33 pm
When did he lie? No fairy tales just facts. No Bama sites.
REAL FALCONS FAN
March 20th, 2012
8:41 pm
furman bisher will be missed ! the ajc’s motto used to be covering dixie like the dew, i will alway’s asssociate that simple slogan with furman bisher,lewis grizzard and my childhood. good bye ,and my prayers are with the bisher family.
Tech fans puke up stories
March 20th, 2012
9:02 pm
Georgia Tech ranks last among ACC schools in graduation rates for football and men’s basketball programs, according to figures released Tuesday by the NCAA.
Here are the GSR rates for ACC and SEC programs:
ACC football: Boston College 93, Duke 93, Miami 88, Wake Forest 81, Virginia Tech 79, North Carolina 75, Virginia 68, Clemson 62, Maryland 59, Florida State 56, N.C. State 56, Georgia Tech 55
ACC men’s basketball: Duke 100, Wake Forest 100, Boston College 89, North Carolina 89, Virginia Tech 86, Miami 82, N.C. State 80, Clemson 67, Florida State 67, Virginia 50, Maryland 46, Georgia Tech 27
ACC all sports (men’s and women’s): Duke 97, Boston College 97, Wake Forest 94, Virginia Tech 91, Miami 89, North Carolina 88, Virginia 87, Clemson 82, Maryland 82, Florida State 79, Georgia Tech 77, N.C. State 74
SEC football: Vanderbilt 86, LSU 77, Florida 76, Alabama 69, Georgia 65, Auburn 63, Mississippi State 62, Kentucky 61, Tennessee 61, Arkansas 56, Mississippi 54, South Carolina 39
SEC men’s basketball: Vanderbilt 93, LSU 71, Mississippi 71, Kentucky 69, Alabama 67, South Carolina 57, Georgia 43, Tennessee 40, Florida 38, Auburn 29, Mississippi State 27, Arkansas 25
SEC all sports (men’s and women’s): Vanderbilt 92, Florida 83, Alabama 82, Georgia 79, Mississippi State 79, LSU 78, Kentucky 77, Auburn 76, Tennessee 76, Arkansas 73, South Carolina 73, Mississippi 72
NCAA places Georgia Tech on probation : ESPN July 18 2011
Georgia Tech fined $100,000 put on probation, stripped of ACC title: NOLA July 14 2011
Georgia Tech vacates 2009 ACC football title, put on probation for NCAA football, basketball violations: Cavalier Insider July 19 2011
Crime wave hits metro Atlanta campuses, Tech and Ga. State: AJC
Armed robbery reported near Georgia Tech: AJC Sept 2009
Another robbery at Ga. Tech intersection: AJC Sept 2009
Tech baseball player Skole arrested, charged with DUI: AJC Feb 2011
Tech fans puke up stories
March 20th, 2012
9:09 pm
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
6:00 pm
Kentucky had a black player in 60, Tech had a black player in 69 that started in 70 at QB. HAHAHA Bryant didn’t start anything he just on the bandwagon.
A press release from Bama about the bear and you think that is not Propaganda. that is too rich. Nice article trying to make bryant a leader in the recruitment of black athletes is an attempt to whitewash the past. I am pretty sure a lil basketball Kentucky played had MORE to do with black athletes getting a shot in the SEC over ANYTHING you want to say about the bear.
JSS
March 20th, 2012
6:34 pm
Wow, you folks (both sides) cannot even go and pay tribute to a man without crawling into the muck! POAD, are you referring to Dennis Jackson (1960)? He was at Murray State (not UK). The first two players at Kentucky and the SEC were Grep Page and Nat Northington in 1967. And UK, not Adolph Rupp fought reintegrating his basketball style (he’d coached black players in Kansas HS)! One reason why Louisville and Western KY have to this day larger followings among blacks in Southeast (and in KY as a whole) is because of UK’s (not Rupp’s) hinderance to allowing blacks to play at UK! Tom Payne did not play at UK until 1970. No SEC or many ACC teams have clean hands. I do credit Tech going whole hog when they brought Eddie McAshan aboard. It was a brave move, you can ask Tony Flanagan what it is like to face demons…
Beating a school by one year really makes Tech set the standard..yeah right…Bobby Dodd got mad and left the SEC because he could not handle gettting kicked by the other SEC schools and got mad at Ole Miss, and Miss St, Alabama and Tennessee. Bear Bryant opened the door for Tech to come back into the fold .
However, in 1975, there appeared to be a making up of sorts between Coach Bryant and Coach Dodd. Bryant told Dodd that Alabama would personally sponsor Georgia Tech getting back into the SEC. While Dodd was grateful, he stated that the Mississippi schools would never allow Tech back into the SEC. Why the Mississippi schools, you ask? Well that begins another interesting chapter in this story ( I told you it was twisted! ).
see article….
http://cecilbuffington.com/catalog_40.html
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
9:15 pm
Reasons why Tech has a bad graduation rate but a MORON dawg can’t understand that TECH doesn’t pass EZ diplomas to Athletes.
http://blogs.ajc.com/business-beat/2012/03/07/did-you-graduate-in-4-years-most-georgia-students-dont/
Only 1 in 4 — 24 percent – of entering freshmen in Georgia’s public four-year colleges get a degree within four years, according to a new database compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education that looks at nearly every U.S. college.
Okay, time for bragging rights, but not much bragging. The University of Georgia has by far the best completion rate in four years — 51.3 percent, compared to just 35.1 percent for Milledgeville’s Georgia College and State University, No. 2 on the list. Georgia Tech is third-highest at 32.9 percent.
Six years seems to be the ticket: Statewide, about 52 percent of students manage to complete a four-year degree within six years. Nearly 80 percent of students at both UGA and Georgia Tech are able to graduate in six years. It’s about 60 percent for Georgia College, according to the Chronicle’s database.
The newspaper studied 55 of the countries largest public universities and found that the preferences given to special admits at many schools was disproportionately favoring athletes, particularly football players. For example, in 2004 the University of California reported that 95% of freshman football players on scholarship were special recruits while 47% of all freshman athletes on scholarships were special admits. In contrast, only 2% of all freshman students were special admits. At the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University, 94% of freshman football players were special admits.
Students are not imagining it if they think it’s harder to get in to Georgia Tech. Those admitted for next fall boast an average 3.9 GPA and a 1430 out of 1600 on the math and verbal SAT. By high school graduation these students would have taken an average of eight college-level courses, such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate. About 14,700 students applied for one of the 2,400 spots for fall or the 250 spots for this summer. The admitted class represents 86 countries and 49 states. No one from Wyoming was admitted.The University of Georgia is scheduled to announce admission decisions by April 1
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
Tech fans puke up stories
The SEC is like the Special Education students to the rest of the Major College or University World.
Wreckmaniac
March 20th, 2012
10:57 pm
Leaving the SEC was one of the best , if not the best, move that Georgia Tech has ever made. If Univ of Miss, Miss State, or Vandy think they are doing themselves any favor by being in the SEC , they’re wrong. Vandy, of all schools , should have left the SEC years ago to associate with similar schools and leave the football factory conference to develop further as the minor league of the NFL. As a GT grad, I am proud of the ACC association. During this association, Tech’s academic distinction has increased while my interest in all sports programs is greater than it has ever been. If any school needs football TV revenue to flourish, it is , at its core, defective. No school should be hostage to any network. It should pray for Merit Scholars long before praying to play in January.
Jason In Bama
March 20th, 2012
11:00 pm
Dear Mr. Tech Puke (if you don’t mind me calling you that),
That was a very interesting — though uncited — article about the reasons behind Ga Tech’s parting with the SEC. Thank you.
=====
“According to legend, Dodd felt that Georgia Tech was too good to have to travel to places like Oxford and Starkville to play football games, so he never would agree to play the Mississippi schools.”
Yea, that sounds like Bobby Dodd, alright. Arrogance like his seems to be a long GT tradition; which somewhat balances out their other football tradition of the past forty years — losing.
Learn to live honestly
March 21st, 2012
12:36 am
There were two links posted that made crystal clear what the Fish was all about . One was to the 1966 Sports Illustrated archived article where Coach Bruyant addressed in long detail what happened wit the Fish .
The other was a link to a current ESPN by Ed Hinton (former AJC co-worker of the Fish) where he made CLEAR that his bilious bile towards Coach bryant and the University of Alabama continued for decades AFTER he was exposed as a buck naked liar and a fraud .
NEITHER of those two links were anything but the clear blue light on just what Bisher was all about … BOTH were from mainstream sources. TOO clear obviously since they were deleted in an effort to obfuscate just what Bisher was trying and FAILED to do with his muckraking yellow journalism and lies .
They got deleted so people like CHOAD can continue to pretend that it was all just some isolated and minor one time misunderstanding . It isn’t hard to understand why . Bisher was given sanctuary and a job for more than four more decades after he should have been fired . A paper with any journalistic integrity would have done just that … AJC doesn’t fit that description . Having selective deletions of links in the comment section that give TOO many crystal clear facts on Bisher is the only thing you would expect from people who worshiped and continued to employ a PROVEN liar who out and out tried to destroy a better man than the Fish EVER was ….
DP
March 21st, 2012
8:18 am
Bear Bryant’s story of his dealings with Furman Bisher:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/1/index.htm
For all the people who have been shrieking that another guy wrote the Saturday Evening Post story, note that Bryant was told of the story in advance from another reporter who said Furman Bisher had showed it to him. But clearly Bryant and Bisher had a history with Bryant suing the Post for another Bisher hit piece, so they put a different byline on the story.
Funny that Bisher would never give his version of what happened.
Unless Jeff Schultz intended to incite Alabama fans with his eulogy I don’t know why he would have let it drop that Bisher still hated Alabama after all these years. I find it fitting that the last college football game Bisher ever saw was Alabama winning yet another national chanpionship in dominating fashion.
I’m as sad about the passing of Bisher as I’m sure Bisher was about the passing of Bear Bryant.
Wreckmaniac
March 21st, 2012
9:20 am
Well Furman, there you have it., Still knocking em down. Again you were the dean of sports journalism and I am grateful in a sense that you will not have to witness the future efforts to make college football a professional sport.
zgoldatl
March 21st, 2012
9:39 am
As an Atlanta native, I want to thank Mr. Bisher. His was the opinion that I cared about most in the sports world. I’ll miss his ”thankful” column every Thanksgiving most, as it was a family tradition to read it together. You will be missed, and there won’t ever be anyone to take your place Mr. Bisher, but I can’t help but think of what an amazing life you lived sir.
Selah indeed
Tech fans puke up stories
March 21st, 2012
10:16 am
UOAD making up excuses why kids do not graduate at Tech…how funny.
Jason In Bama
March 21st, 2012
10:55 am
To DP and ‘Learn to Live Honestly’, thank you VERY much!
DP, do you have a link to that ESPN article that your referenced?
Thanks again.
JSS
March 21st, 2012
11:19 am
DP
March 21st, 2012
8:18 am
“Funny that Bisher would never give his version of what happened.”
Oh you mean like this?
http://www.ajc.com/sports/bisher-the-bear-bryant-1390837.html
You people (on both sides) are unreal! It is Division 1 college football, it is generally not life or death unlike it has been allowed to become here in the South and a few other places… “Perspective” is more than a point-of-view. All of the parties in that issue are now dead. You sound the people that still fight the Civil War and transfer every aspect of their lives to a matter that had been settled in the losses of lives!
Jason In Bama
March 21st, 2012
11:48 am
By the way, Bisher never once called Bryant or Butts before he contributed to the ‘Fix’ article. Furtheremore, the REAL reasons the article didn’t have Bisher’s byline was because a) everyone knew at the time that Bisher had it in for both Bryant and Butts, and b) Bisher was a physical coward.
As just one example of ‘b’, Bisher showed up unannouced at Bryant’s office in the late 60’s, or there about, asking to speak to Bryant. One of the training staff told Bisher a few minutes later that Bryant was coming straight from the practice field to speak with him. Legend has it that Bisher took off for the door, and wasn’t seen in Tuscaloosa ever again.
Also, how appropriate that the last football game Bisher ever saw was hated Alabama winning yet another national title.
Oh, and one more thing, when Bisher started with AJC, Ga Tech was one of the elite of college football. Thanks in no small measure to Bisher’s lies and deceit, Tech is now in the bottom rungs of America’s worst major football conference. Payback is a B!
Friends and relatives of Bisher, you have NO reason to be proud of this man. None.
JSS
March 21st, 2012
12:08 pm
Well “reason” just went off the deep end… And when you can come with the “real” elements of the Bisher-Bryant “clear the air” meeting that never took place (at Bryant’s insistence), well “y’all” can join us all in the 21st century… The NCAA’s house is burning down while some are sitting around screaming how your part of it looks!
Jason In Bama
March 21st, 2012
12:52 pm
Hey, JSS, when Bisher comes up with the “real” elements to his ‘Fix’ and ‘Dirty Play’ stories, then maybe we can all see each other — in hell.
Chub Rock
March 21st, 2012
12:55 pm
Saints coach Sean Payton has been one year for his role in the “bounty” scandal. YESSSIRR!!!!
Jason In Bama
March 21st, 2012
12:55 pm
Oh, JSS, when Sports Illustrated — not exactly a lover of the SEC — writes a feature article pointing out that a fellow journalist (Bisher) is a scumbag, well, that’s fairly telling. Don’t you agree?
Chub Rock
March 21st, 2012
12:56 pm
And they lose a 2nd rd pick this year and next year. Greg Williams suspended indefinitely. His football career just ended.
blackprix
March 21st, 2012
4:48 pm
Furman IS a legend. I read him all the time when he was with this paper. How things have changed.
RIP
JSS
March 21st, 2012
7:10 pm
Jason, and what exactly changes? You can can smear the man, but it is like spitting in the wind… It always comes back and hits eventually you in the face…
I read the transcript of the “whole Curtis Co.-v-Butts” case more than 25 years ago for my Torts class. That case is not Sullivan. If it had been brought in other district, it may have gone a whole different direction. Within 15 months, the Supreme Court completely redefined what indeed was “libel” or “defamation.” Like I said “reason” has gone out the door on you the matter with you. You don’t spend every dying breath casting Clay Blair or Roger Kahn to “hell,” nor do you caste George Burnett to “hell.” Your incrimination of Bisher is just wasted. As Professor James Kirby put it: “That three major institutions-the law, the press, and “big-time” football-“fumbled” in their efforts to serve
justice, inform the public and reform college football.” And nobody is going to hell, if bearing false witness was all it took, Bear and every SEC coach would be caste down for saying Vanderbilt was a quality football team in 60s, 70s, and early 80s!
DawgVoiceofReason
March 21st, 2012
7:18 pm
Wow!! The hatred and bitterness of some of these Bama/Bryant fans is telling. While I admire Coach Bryant and the Tide’s football accomplishments, you folks on here spewing venom have no idea how much damage you do personally to the reputation of Tide fans (for those who have any respect left for them). You and your fellow fans just continue to drag down the reputation further. Worse, you are damaging some part of the Bear’s reputation that he built, even though he’s long gone, with every hate-filled word you post. That’s pretty amazing and sad for the Bear. If he were alive, he would be horrified at you and your kind.
You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t you even realize or understand that the events you are still obsessing about are long settled. There is nothing new for you to add and this has all been argued about and discussed for many prior years.
Most of the people here could not care less about anything you have to say, now or in the future.
Jason In Bama
March 21st, 2012
7:39 pm
Jason, and what exactly changes? You can can smear the man, but it is like spitting in the wind… It always comes back and hits eventually you in the face…
JSS
======
My gosh, JSS, that’s one of the most ironic — and non-self-aware — comments I’ve EVER read; and this coming from a purported law student!
Mr. JSS, your man Bisher, smeared MY people, MY state, MY team, and MY Coach. And that made it personal.
Furthermore, he did it in a sneaky, underhanded way, and never once apologized for it.
Not only that, he continued (as Schulz has documented) taking cheap shots at ‘Bama up until his death.
Lastly, and most poetically, his actions were a contributing cause into the decline of GT’s football program.
Therefore, yea, JSS, what goes around certainly came around — for Bisher and for GT!
Good day,
DawgVoiceofReason
March 21st, 2012
7:56 pm
(part 1)
Wow!! The hatred and bitterness of some of these Bama/Bryant fans is telling. While I admire
Coach Bryant and the Tide’s football accomplishments, you folks on here spewing venom have no idea how much damage you do personally to the reputation of Tide fans (for those who have any respect left for them). You and your fellow fans just continue to drag down the reputation further.
Worse, you are damaging some part of the Bear’s reputation, even though he’s long gone, with every word you post. That’s pretty amazing and sad for the Bear. If he were alive, he would be
horrified at you and your kind.
DawgVoiceofReason
March 21st, 2012
7:58 pm
(part 2)
Hateful Alabama fans:
You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don’t you even realize or understand that the events
you are still obsessing about are long settled. There is nothing new for you to add and this has
all been argued about and discussed for many prior years.
Most of the people here could not care less about anything you have to say on this subject, now or in the future.
DawgVoiceofReason
March 21st, 2012
8:01 pm
Part 1
Wow!! The hatred and bitterness of some of these Bama/Bryant fans is telling. While I admire Coach Bryant and the Tide’s football accomplishments, you folks on here spewing venom have no idea how much damage you do personally to the reputation of Tide fans (for those who still have respect for them). You and your fellow fans just continue to drag down the already questionable reputation further. Worse, you are damaging some part of the Bear’s reputation, even though he’s long gone, with every word you post. That’s pretty amazing and sad for the Bear. If he were alive, he would be horrified at you and your kind.
DawgVoiceofReason
March 21st, 2012
8:04 pm
(Part 1)
Wow!! The hatred and bitterness of some of these Bama/Bryant fans is telling. While I admire Coach Bryant and the Tide’s football accomplishments, you folks on here spewing venom have no idea how much harm you do personally to the reputation of Tide fans (for those who still have respect for them). You and your fellow fans just continue to drag down the already questionable reputation further. Worse, you are harming some part of the Bear’s reputation, even though he’s long gone, with every word you post. That’s pretty amazing and sad for the Bear. If he were alive, he would be horrified at you and your kind.
Nathan D.
March 21st, 2012
8:08 pm
Beautiful
JSS
March 21st, 2012
8:35 pm
“Your man Bisher?” 1. He is not, but he is “a man.” But, he was no less mortal, he made mistakes, but you are worried about reputations? Please, you have Scottsboro, Tuskegee, Montgomery, “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever,” Selma, Bombingham, and the Trail of Tears on the Alabama plate; but you are worried about the reputation of a college football team? Well in that distorted reality let me add two words and one name: Mike Price! Let’s get real about reputations, the only reputations at question were Bryant and Butts. So I guess every person in the state of Georgia needs to go crazy and drag the dead through the street because a Mercer University grad and former Georgia football coach had his reputation smeared?
But this is what happens when people put games on a pedestal and lose perspective on what is truly the meaning of what Jefferson called the study in college for even the “most common man.” I doubt he was worried about what 100,000 football fans wearing Crimson thought…
Two Atlanta Sports Legends to Remember : Sports & Other Thoughts
March 21st, 2012
8:59 pm
[...] Jeff Schultz – http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2012/03/19/furman-bisher-we-lost-a-legend-i-lost-a-friend/ [...]