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
Jeremy rutledge
March 19th, 2012
11:42 am
Ole Furman Lewis and you are the best my friend he will be missed
Jeff B
March 19th, 2012
11:44 am
What an amazing lifetime.
@DanWeiner
March 19th, 2012
11:47 am
great stuff, Jeff. Thanks.
Thanks to Jeff and Mark...
March 19th, 2012
11:48 am
…for carrying on the mantle at the AJC – When we lost Lewis Grizzard we lost a treasure, and now his mentor has joined him. Lewis always said all he ever wanted to do was to “write like Furman Bisher” and now he will have him to mentor him some more.
Thanks for the reflections, Jeff and Mark…
Dave from Buford
March 19th, 2012
11:53 am
Thanks, Jeff.
Furman Bisher was one of the many the reasons I went to the J-School at UGA and I had great plans to succeed him at the AJC.
At the time the AJC had a weekly “Beat Bisher” college football pick ‘em game going where the main weekly prize was a tee shirt with Furman’s face in red and “I Beat Bisher” blazoned across it. I still have mine, stashed away in a drawer and defend it every spring when my wife wants to throw it away.
I read Furman’s column every time it appeared … he had a knack for finding the small, human things in sport which you don’t see now, and in these days of web based columns you might not see again. Oddly enough, I think I looked forward to his Thanksgiving columns the most … perhaps it was because we saw the source of the humanity that he was able to find in his work.
When I compliment someone by saying they are a “gentleman and a scholar”, what I mean is they’re like Furman.
Selah, indeed.
rlm
March 19th, 2012
11:55 am
Taught this female that reading sports columns was often the best reading in the paper during a time females could care less about sports. Please compile his columns and put them in a book.
promethius
March 19th, 2012
11:58 am
Did Furman study at J-School at UGa?
Newman
March 19th, 2012
11:59 am
Selah Mr. Bisher.
Larry
March 19th, 2012
12:00 pm
Jeff,
If Mr. Bisher has read this, he’s thinking “you do good work.”
Larry
Sonny Clusters
March 19th, 2012
12:05 pm
Not many people know that we were buddies with Mr. Bisher and we also exchanged e-mails in his later years. He loved St. Simons and it was hard to get him back to Atlanta once he got there. We remember reading his columns and, he did as Jeff says, paint a picture. We used to grab the Journal and the very first thing look for his column. We would be thoroughly entertained and informed when we got through reading . . . and we’d wish it could go on some more. We also remember his tv program on Sunday mornings and how he was the precursor to ESPN. Mr. Bisher was one of our heroes and remains so. May he rest in peace. Selah.
Cindy
March 19th, 2012
12:06 pm
Farewell, Mr Bisher. You are a true gentleman and scholar and when I passed you in the halls of the AJC I was in awe. You will be greatly missed.
GaDawg81
March 19th, 2012
12:06 pm
Nice column Jeff. Furman will be missed. I remember growing up reading his column as well as Jessie Outlar. Two giants in the business. I loved to read Furman every day. He was like a grandfather telling us a story.
Brave Hokie
March 19th, 2012
12:06 pm
Rest well, FB…
UGA '90 ABJ
March 19th, 2012
12:07 pm
Dave in Buford must have done better in the “I beat Bisher” contest than I did. I only got a bumper sticker.
It was a prized possession that I cherished.
I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Bisher while I was in the J-school at UGA. It was like meeting an idol. I can’t imagine what it would be like to work with him.
After graduation I worked in sports at a newspaper in South Carolina. When I wrote columns I always thought about his past work. I knew whatever I did would never approach his level of excellence.
Thanksgiving morning won’t be the same without his column.
In honor of him, “Selah.”
Dave from Buford
March 19th, 2012
12:08 pm
@promethius
No, he went to UNC.
David
March 19th, 2012
12:10 pm
I enrolled at Ga Tech in the Summer of 1953. Ed Danforth wrote the column that Mr Bisher eventually took over. At first, I thought that Mr Bisher would never be as good a writer as Mr Danforth. After a few columns by Mr Bisher, I realized that the Atlanta Journal had a sports writing genius in Mr Bisher. Even after I graduated from Ga Tech in 1959 and moved to South Carolina, I woud go to the library and try to find a copy of the Atlanta Journal Sports so that I could read Mr Bisher’s column. He will be missed. There will
never be another like him
copy of the Atlanta Journal
Banned Poster
March 19th, 2012
12:14 pm
Great tribute Jeff. It sad that Furman is no longer with us, but the memories of his work will live on forever. I wonder if Furman and Lewis are having a good laugh this morning, among other things.
pat
March 19th, 2012
12:15 pm
Thanks, Jeff. Sorry for your loss of a friend.
sainthater
March 19th, 2012
12:16 pm
Say Hello to Lewis and Catfish, you will be missed.
Bosox9
March 19th, 2012
12:20 pm
Thanks for this nice piece, Jeff. Furman was truly one of a kind and I’m glad to have known him.
Richard
March 19th, 2012
12:21 pm
Growing up in ATL I loved reading his articles and he became the standard by which all other scribes were judged. My favorite were his Thanksgiving articles about the things he was thank for that particular year. I would read them aloud in the kitchen while mom got dinner ready. Thanks Furman!
Selah
UGABugKiller
March 19th, 2012
12:25 pm
There are two people in my life that nurtured my intense love of sports: my father (as it is with almost every boy and man) and Furman Bisher, to whom I owe my greatest sports thanks.
My father, having been born in Brooklyn, tried to instill in me a love for all things New York, but it was the words, wit, and wisdom of Furman Bisher (and Lewis Grizzard, to a lesser extent) who engendered a deep and unabated love for all sports with a Southernly flair. While Mr. Bisher would have probably preferred my loyalties pledged to his late son Roger’s alma mater, I know he would be happy with my fierce love for the Braves, Falcons, and even Thrashers (my ambivalence to the Hawks notwithstanding).
Although my brother and father have experienced a sports fan’s ecstasy 9 times in the last 29 years (Yankees’ and Giants’ World Championships), I wouldn’t trade either of Mark Richt’s SEC Championship wins nor the (unfortunate) lone Braves World Series win for their Northeasten treasure, because my life as I’ve always remembered it has been here. I am of Georgia, and I have never looked, and will never look with covetous eyes towards the North, and for that Pride, I thank Furman Bisher.
From the time I could understand more than “cat” and “dog” as I was reading, I was reading Mr. Bisher’s columns to feed my insatiable need for sports. As I grew older, I began to appreciate his way of approaching his subjects from a different angle than most columnists. Read his columns after Atlanta got the Olympics or after the Braves won the World Series to understand what I’m talking about. I loved the way how he’d sometimes come at an issue or the subject of his pen a little sideways, and how it made me think. I know, especially as we’ve moved into this new digital age with the ability to comment on every online column we read, that there are many people in this town who unfortunately never understood his wit or did not possess the intelligence to comprehend his point of view, but that made me appreciate Mr. Bisher even more.
His prose was not for the ignorant. It was not for the uneducated. Like many of the Alabama fans lacking in any semblance of perspective I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting last night on Twitter, or, during 2007, the unbalanced fans in this town who unduly worship a man I refer to as the DogKilla.
No, Mr. Bisher’s writing was elevated above the depths at which people of that low caliber existed, and I loved reading him all the more for it.
When I was in middle school and high school in Gwinnett and then Hall County, I routinely skipped my lunch period to go to the library for those 20 minutes to read the AJC Sports Section, and specifically, Mr. Bisher’s column. Instead of eating my PB&J or ham & cheese, I devoured his words. After any big sporting event, his thoughts were the first I sought out.
While I was in Okinawa, after my second knee injury and surgery, I sent Mr. Bisher an email about a column he wrote. He responded back promptly, and for about a month, we actually carried on a correspondence, me the Marine, he the old Seabee. We talked about his time in service, during WWII and he told me a few stories of how the SEC used to be, with Alabama and Georgia Tech being as fierce a rivalry as he’d ever seen, and how sad he was when Bobby Dodd took Tech out of the SEC. At the time, and still to this day, I could hardly believe I was talking to the great Furman Bisher, a man who shaped my love of sports, a columnist whom I revered above all. But that’s the kind of man he was: as great as his deeds were to those of us who were witness to them, he was generous enough with his time to speak to a broken down Corporal and help lift his spirits. It is a great sorrow that I no longer have any of those emails, as I found out yesterday, because after I began going to UGA, I stopped using that yahoo mail account, and they deleted all of my saved files.
But I’ll always have the memories. And although Mr. Bisher is no longer here with us in body, he’ll always be here with us through his writing. The sharp wit, the steady temper, it’s all there to be found. All we have to do is do a google search, and we rediscover his work.
He is truly immortal. And for that, I’ll always be grateful.
Respectfully.
todd grantham
March 19th, 2012
12:27 pm
Jeff,
Fine piece of writing.
Montgomery
March 19th, 2012
12:33 pm
Mr. Furman Bisher will be missed.
DIT
March 19th, 2012
12:34 pm
I would love to read that piece FB did on SHoeless Joe Jackson.
BBrown
March 19th, 2012
12:38 pm
Jeff, in the words of FB – “I like what you wrote”. Great tribute to a legend!!
blazer
March 19th, 2012
12:39 pm
Always loved your sports articles in the paper, but the best ones are the Thanksgiving ones.
I even bought the book with some of those in it. Mr. Bisher, I’m thankful for getting to
reading your writings.
True Tech
March 19th, 2012
12:40 pm
Way to be classy Bryant.
SeminoleWarrior
March 19th, 2012
12:40 pm
Great piece, Jeff.
FB would remind you to keep the chin up and get back to work. And you are right…he truly is worthy of the title, LEGEND.
blazer
March 19th, 2012
12:40 pm
I love all his sports articles but the Thanksgiving one are the best!
UGABugKiller
March 19th, 2012
12:43 pm
It didn’t take long for a Bama Updyke to come here and ruin our moment of respect with their classless and ultimately sad lack of perspective in life, did it?
You are to be pitied, you poor Bama Updyke. Pitied. Gain some perspective, live your life better.
Jason
March 19th, 2012
12:43 pm
One of your best, Jeff.
Jay S.
March 19th, 2012
12:45 pm
Here’s the piece Furman did on Shoeless Joe Jackson – http://www.blackbetsy.com/theTruth.html
reebok
March 19th, 2012
12:48 pm
The last of the great print sportswriters. He can kick back now and compare stories with Grantland Rice and Jesse Outler. What a great writer, and what a life!
And THE BAMA NATION, too...
March 19th, 2012
12:50 pm
…you guys are really a classless bunch…way to represent the BAMA NATION…
BillfromNewnan
March 19th, 2012
12:53 pm
I am 64. I remember the mid-day Sunday TV show of a roundtable discussion among AJC sportswriters on the previous day’s SEC football games, almost always featuring Furman Bisher, Jesse Outlar, Ed Danforth and Jim Minter, sometimes including Harry Mehre. Those were the days….
Marvin Mangrum
March 19th, 2012
12:55 pm
I read my first newspaper in the spring of 1961, the first story I ever read was by a guy with the odd name of Furman Bisher, Ill tell you this, it was the first of many stories, almost all very, very great. Im thinking, surely not all of them were not great, but I surely can not remember the bad ones. Mr Bisher had a gift, a true gift, and he found it and shared it with us, that truly was the greatest gift I ever recieved. Man, the Angels are singing, and all your friends are saying “Selah”.
Columbus Dawg
March 19th, 2012
12:55 pm
It does not take much to see what pieces of dung that the majority of Alabama supporters truly are. If it is not corrupt, cheated or just plain wrong, it ain’t from Alabama.
Jason
March 19th, 2012
12:56 pm
Here is Furman’s interview with Shoeless Joe. Mr. Bisher was indeed a classic, and will be missed.
http://www.blackbetsy.com/theTruth.html
BillVol
March 19th, 2012
12:56 pm
Outstanding, Jeff.
doc
March 19th, 2012
12:59 pm
amen, bill. those were the days and the only way to get info from the late night games at u of miss and lsu if you didnt get to listen on the radio the night before. those were really great shows and i had enjoyed harry mehre as well but had forgotten his essence there until you mentioned him.
dawgum
March 19th, 2012
12:59 pm
You Bama guys save your disrespect for when you are going out on a date with your cousin and allow us to honor a great man and his family with the respect he deserves!!!
‘The man who watched Cy Young pitch, Joe Louis box …’ « ATLmalcontent
March 19th, 2012
12:59 pm
[...] Schultz pays tribute to Furman Bisher, who informed generations of Atlanta sports fans. I started reading him at 6 years old. More than [...]
Buckeye
March 19th, 2012
1:01 pm
I want to pay my respects to another great Atlantan sports icon. I suspect Furman and Munson are sharing a laugh about now.
NCBravesFan
March 19th, 2012
1:03 pm
Furman was always a great read, and the last chapter in the old Journal-Consitution has now been written. RIP Mr. Bisher, and say hi to Celestine Sibley – a great reporter and columnist in her own right.
Bamajacket
March 19th, 2012
1:04 pm
A sad day for all of us who “saw” all the events Mr. Bisher covered. Nobody ever put a sentence together like he could do it. “Legend” doesn’t quite cover the worth and skill of the man. His kind are now disappearing, and we are the less for it.
Edgar Godfrey
March 19th, 2012
1:05 pm
I also enjoyed his work through the years. Jeff one of my teachers in high school was Coach Wally Butts sister. I still remember the day she was summoned to the office and returned a few minutes later with a smile on her face. They had just won a lawsuit against the publishers of Life Magazine for printing Mr. Bisher’s story about the alledged fix of the UGA/Alabama game. Mrs. Coley hated Curtiss Publishing Co. She never had anything to say about Furman Bisher. I’ll always believe he was baited. Mrs. Coley always said her brother and Bear Bryant never did what was written in that article. All I know is Mrs. Coley said her brother never got over it and sent him to an early grave. I met him once a few years ago in an elevator after a Falcons game. I complimented him for his years of great writing. He smiled and said thank you. There was an idiot on the elevator though that harrased him about that piece.I felt bad for him. All he did was write what he heard. I called the guy a guttless puke. He made no attempt to return my insult.He had too many fans on that elevator for one idiot to even think about saying a word. You were fortunate Jeff. I wish I could have heard more from him that I’m sure you listened too.
missouridawg
March 19th, 2012
1:11 pm
The baton has been passed to you and Mark, Jeff. Thanks for the great article. One of your best. Selah, indeed.
True Falcon Fan
March 19th, 2012
1:12 pm
I always saved the best writer and column for last when reading AJC sports page. I will miss Mr. Furman Bisher
Go Falcons!
LHarding Dawg
March 19th, 2012
1:12 pm
Growing up in the small town of Hazlehurst in the 60’s and 70’s, we did’nt get a lot of sports news. The only reliable source was the daily AJC and Furman Bisher. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to. RIP
Alabama Jack
March 19th, 2012
1:12 pm
Furman Bisher was truly a legend.As a struggling Georgia Tech student, I did without other things so make sure I always had the price of the Atlanta Journal to read Furman Bisher and Paul Hemphill.
JSS
March 19th, 2012
1:17 pm
There were four voices that made Atlanta respected around the nation: M.E. Jackson, Chico Renfro, Jesse Outlar, and the great Furman Bisher. We were lucky to have them, and blessed to have them advocate and report on our behalf!
Mit
March 19th, 2012
1:27 pm
“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”
I wonder what he said after the BCS title game?
how2fish
March 19th, 2012
1:30 pm
Well Jeff thanks for sharing that…you and Mark have the helm now…..RIP Furman you were a treasure ..
Rothschild
March 19th, 2012
1:41 pm
Excellent trubute.
billy bob
March 19th, 2012
1:42 pm
A true LEGEND! A better person! Furman will be missed by all. An ICON!!!
Patrick
March 19th, 2012
1:49 pm
Thanks, Jeff for a really good piece on a really good writer. And thanks to the Almighty for having given us Mr. Bisher to enjoy all these many years. Legends of his stature are few and far between.
Andrew Rosenberg
March 19th, 2012
1:51 pm
Perfect column Jeff. I had the lucky pleasure of living in Los Angeles for 7 years and to read Jim Murray at the LA Times and moved here in 1996 and it was a treat to read Furman’s columns. Guys like that will be missed.
BBQ MAN
March 19th, 2012
1:57 pm
you write good stuff Jeff, except this…… This was great and spot on
JSS
March 19th, 2012
2:02 pm
‘Funny how things take on a life of their own, Furman Bisher did not write the ‘Saturday Evening Post’ article about Bryant and Butts. He contributed information to the article. Frank Graham, Jr wrote the infamous article.
Montgomery
March 19th, 2012
2:03 pm
Mr. Furman Bisher is now on the higher plateau.
The Gentlemen Writer with meaningful words.
Thanks Mr. Schultz.
Alabama | MrSEC
March 19th, 2012
2:04 pm
[...] 1. Alabama’s “intense” spring practice resumes today after spring break.2. New Auburn offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler is looking for playmakers on the Plains.3. LSU’s backup quarterbacks are getting experience this spring.4. Ex-Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien and offensive lineman Max Garcia will reportedly visit Ole Miss tomorrow. (Maybe Hugh Freeze can continue Houston Nutt’s string of one-and-done quarterbacks.)5. Texas A&M assistant AD for athletic training says marijuana is “the most prevalent” drug used by college athletes “and that’s not going to change anytime soon.” (Somewhere Matthew McConaughey just said, “Alright, alright, alright.”)6. It looks like Florida has now adapted to the loss of Will Yeguette as Billy Donovan’s team rolls into another Sweet Sixteen.7. UF’s bench came up big yesterday.8. As we said this morning, the NCAA Tournament bracket is falling Kentucky’s way.9. Only one coach has made the Sweet Sixteen in each of the last five seasons. Guess who. (Hint: He wears expensive suits, slicks back his hair, lives in Kentucky, and isn’t named Pitino.)10. South Carolina’s Bruce Ellington is now reconsidering his decision to give up football for basketball.11. Jeronne Maymon is probable for Tennessee’s NIT game with MTSU tonight.12. Vol basketballers would rather go to New York for the NIT semifinals than go on spring break.13. This writer says Vanderbilt’s veteran-heavy squad underachieved.14. Missouri’s Frank Haith will enter the SEC with this year’s Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award in his trophy case.15. The world — and especially Southern sports fans — have lost a legend in Furman Bisher. [...]
Hindu Elvis Pimp
March 19th, 2012
2:10 pm
Yawn
c-man
March 19th, 2012
2:27 pm
Hey Jeff,
Outstanding piece, man. I did have one question, however. When did Mr. Bisher see Cy Young pitch? Young retired as a professional in 1910. Bisher wasn’t born til 1918. Had he seen him in some sort of old-timer’s game? Not trying to be argumentative, just wondering …
onfire1113
March 19th, 2012
2:36 pm
Best friend Ga. Tech ever had at the AJC. We will miss you.
Rodney Walker
March 19th, 2012
2:40 pm
I’m thankful for getting to read Furman Bisher writings.Good job Jeff.
Michael
March 19th, 2012
2:41 pm
This is truly a sad time, the passing of an icon. I really missed his Thanksgiving column this year, and now it is with heavy heart I know we will never see another.
Tom King
March 19th, 2012
2:46 pm
Once long ago in the early 1970s I was the sports editor of the late Macon News. I won sportswriter of the year in either 1971 or 1972 — maybe the first year my sports writing hero Furman Bisher didn’t win it in Georgia. I knew Furman of course. The first phone call I received congratulating me was from Furman Bisher. I have no doubt that he is resting in peace! Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Jeff!
Greg Mendel
March 19th, 2012
2:55 pm
Excellent tribute, Jeff, and a reminder of Mr. Bisher’s writing style. He had that rare ability to report the news and tell a good story at the same time — all without letting the “writing” get in the way. He assembled the facts into a story, and “made it live!” (as the expression goes).
I have to wonder, though, how difficult it became over his career, as the marketing of sports and athletes began to be measured in cubic dollars. He always seemed to relish the purity and tradition of sport in its deepest, amateur form. Bisher was at his best, in my view, when writing about high school football or a minor league game.
Andy
March 19th, 2012
2:59 pm
I’m thankful for Furman Bisher
Steveo
March 19th, 2012
3:01 pm
RIP Furman….you, along with Charlie Roberts, were the best sports writers the AJC has ever had. I grew up enjoying your prose and humor. God bless your family…you will truely be missed!!!!
Steve Osborne
Douglasville
StingerSplash
March 19th, 2012
3:07 pm
Unbeaten. Untied. Unscored upon.
Furman Bisher’s record in his office, per the late Lewis Grizzard.
And how can you not love the screaming headline over his shoulder in the picture above?
Davis McCollum
March 19th, 2012
3:15 pm
A true legend for Atlanta is gone…. as improtant for our sports future as was Ivan Allen and Ted Turner.
bulldogbubba
March 19th, 2012
3:31 pm
Another Atlanta Icon gone. The people and places of my youth keep fading away. I hope our future appreciate what they have now. God bless you Mr. Bisher and family. Good job Mr. Schultz.
Dawglasville
March 19th, 2012
3:36 pm
This is the best stuff you and Mark have done since the pieces you both wrote on Munson.
Patrick
March 19th, 2012
3:37 pm
Wonderful Tribute.
Doug-H
March 19th, 2012
3:37 pm
This northerner first got introduced to Furman from reading the old Sporting News when it was a real weekly paper and had newspaper columnists from all over the country.. Living in NY back then, it was interesting to read the “Southern” perspective. Years later, I got to meet him when I would work the media center for the Players near Jacksonville.. He would always show up for years and I missed him when he stopped coming because he loved the stories and not just of golf.. Golf beat writers are an interesting bunch but he was treated with awe..
Hillbilly D
March 19th, 2012
3:40 pm
We’ll probably never see the likes of Furman again. If you don’t remember when Furman, Mehre and Outlar were writing, you missed something.
2012 Preseason Fulmer Cup Champs
March 19th, 2012
3:56 pm
We lost a legend, I lost a friend…
and I lost my car keys.
Ellen Clary
March 19th, 2012
4:00 pm
A great tribute to Furman Bisher. I agree with him — you do good work.
Instant Dawgma
March 19th, 2012
4:01 pm
Sad…..makes me feel old now.
Schultzie, don’t know if you were around Atlanta when Jesse Outlar was also a sports editor for the morning Constitution.
I miss Furman,Jesse, Lewis Grizzard, Ron Hudspeth and all those I read. These bozo transplants today don’t know what great papers the Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal were. Especially the sports sections. Even though actual newspapers are shrinking today, ya’ll still do a good job. Even if actually praising someone or something goes against the grain of the uncivil, insulting bloggers in today’s world.
Keep on writing and we’ll all keep reading even if we disagree sometimes.
ex-pat Heel
March 19th, 2012
4:25 pm
This is a long read, but for those who want the bio and can stomach the Tar Heel perspective..
http://northcarolina.scout.com/2/1169110.html
Paddy
March 19th, 2012
4:26 pm
The last of the “old guard”. He will be missed and just not the ones that knew him. When you read him you got a piece of FB!
heartofdarkness
March 19th, 2012
4:43 pm
I remember reading Mr. Bisher and Wells Twombly, of the S.F. Chronicle, in the Sporting News in the ’60s, when I was a kid in Baltimore. He could really draw the reader into the story.
By the way, Rutgers won the 1869 game, 6-0. Consistent with tradition, the Scarlet Knights dropped the game to the Tigers the following year.
hammerhead
March 19th, 2012
4:52 pm
Wonderful tribute. I always felt that Mr. Bisher pulled against my Bulldogs (and am certain he did when we were playing Tech), but it was hard not to appreciate the talent he brought to the profession. I would love to see the AJC do some re-prints (posts) of FB’s work in future editions. The man could tell a story.
Starring Kam Fong as Chin Ho
March 19th, 2012
4:56 pm
In the early sixties (when I was 8 or so), I found a huge stash of Atlanta newspapers in my grandfathers barn in N Ga. I spent that summer reading the sports pages from the late fifties forward. My favorites were of course Mr Bishers articles. Great work then, to inspire an 8 yr old to read and enjoy baseball games that were played years before. He was the best. I too Jeff feel like I lost a friend. My prayers to the family and friends. The Masters will never feel the same.
SuperB
March 19th, 2012
4:57 pm
First LARRY MUNSON, and now, FURMAN BISHER. Two legends of sports off to sit on St. Peter’s 50-yard line in three months. What will we do? I’m sad. I’ll think about that tomorrow.
Whopper Dawg
March 19th, 2012
5:17 pm
As a sports fan, and specifically a Dawg and Atlanta pro sports fan growing up in Georgia, I was truly, truly blessed.
Larry, Lewis, Jessie and of course Furman. It just doesn’t get better than that. The folks in other states have no idea how grand it was. Can you imagine the stories going on up there above?
Great column, Jeff.
padre
March 19th, 2012
5:19 pm
well done-article. and fb well done –class act
LawDawg
March 19th, 2012
5:23 pm
Great post about a great sportswriter. His words have been missed since he retired.
Condolences to his friends and family.
On Par: Bisher, the Loss of a Legend | Stop News Daily
March 19th, 2012
5:32 pm
[...] Jeff Schultz wrote so poignantly in a Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he was Bisher’s co-worker for some-more than 20 years, he was a walking sports museum, [...]
Mike R
March 19th, 2012
5:39 pm
I really enjoyed his columns, especially the random thought columns. I have the Gwinnett paper bookmarked so I can read his most recent work. I once invited him to my son’s Cub Scout Blue and Gold Dinner, he could not make it. But I did not get a answer in the mail, he called and we spoke for awhile. We was a true gentleman and will be missed.
phil
March 19th, 2012
5:40 pm
There will be no passing of the baton. It’s being buried with this great man. I never read his stuff until 1985, but it was worth the wait.
Just last week, I thought of him and read some online stuff he wrote after a long time reading nothing. I wasn’t even sure, until then, that he was still living. Sadly, it wasn’t long after that he passed.
Ty Cobb? Joe Jackson? Bobby Jones? Legend only begins to describe him.
I’m sorry for the loss to those of you who knew him well…
Silverstreak
March 19th, 2012
5:42 pm
Superb Tribute to a Gentleman that will not be soon forgotten. I have been going to Lenox with my daughter the last few weeks and everytime I get on Moore’s Mill Road I think of Furman. My Dad was Whitlow Wyatt that managed the Atlanta Crackers in ‘54 and was the Piching Coach for the Braves from 1958 – 1968. I used to sit at Dad’s feet and listen to him and Furman and sometimes Jesse Outlar talk for hours about the game. It was amazing to just “listen” to them. Yes, He will be missed… but not soon forgotten…
Thanks for a wonderful tribute to a “Fine, Southern Gentleman”.
Bill Madden
March 19th, 2012
5:43 pm
Nice tribute, Jeff. .Furman was a true giant in our profession and also a true gentleman. It was a privilege for me to serve with him on the HoF Veterans Committee three years ago when we elected Joe Gordon. I hope Atlantans know that, without Furman, there probably wouldn’t have been any Braves. His tireless efforts to bring big league baseball to Atlanta, as well as his exclusive with Shoeless Joe (perhaps the greatest piece of baseball journalism ever) alone should have warranted him the Spink Award. I do hope that still happens.
Bob
March 19th, 2012
5:54 pm
Thanks Jeff, for a fitting article on a great man. Furman, Jesse, and Lewis always wrote with dignity, honesty, character, and humor…all the things that were important. Unlike the majority of scribes today, these great men actually cared about sports. Furman, R.I.P. my friend.
Skeezix
March 19th, 2012
5:54 pm
Jeff: Wonderful tribute to a great man and sports journalist.
Deacon Blues
March 19th, 2012
5:57 pm
Good writer, bad analyst! Selah
"Chef" Tim Dix
March 19th, 2012
5:59 pm
For us selfish fans of the written sports word it’s been another rough day, a Monday to top it off.
Thanks to both Jeff and Mark for your memories of Furman.
Bobby Jones, Ty Cobb…Bourbon please, straight up.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
March 19th, 2012
6:17 pm
I feel REALLY old today. I literally grew up reading Furman’s columns and there has NEVER been a classier sports writer at ANY paper! He had a way with words that went well beyond what can be taught in some journalism school — his abilites/gifts were truly natural and God-given. I had the honor of meeting him once, and he was one of the nicest, most down-to-earth men I have ever had the honor of encountering. he will be greatly missed by all of us. And Jeff, that was one of the best tributes I have ever read for anyone — Maybe ‘ol Furman rubbed off on you more than you realize! You and Mark continue the good work, but ya’ll have some shoes there that will be impossible to fill.
dawg4u
March 19th, 2012
6:46 pm
Thanks for a fine article on an icon in Atlanta sports, Furman Bisher. I can remember as a kid in the mid sixties my brother and I racing for the mail box to grab the AJC and read Furman’s column on Sunday morning. The fact that he worked until age 90 is remarkable. I really enjoyed his Master’s columns and also the UGA and GT sports articles. He was great at reporting any sporting event and was great on his Thanksgiving day columns on the things he was thankful for. Priceless. The most touching article that Furman ever wrote IMO is the one he wrote when he lost his mother who also lived to a ripe old age. That brought tears to my eye. RIP Mr. Bisher and I salute you and to echo Jeff’s closing – SELAH!
RIP, Furman Bisher « Dixie Babble
March 19th, 2012
6:57 pm
[...] native who first made his name in 1949, when he managed to get the first (and, it turned out, last) interview with ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson since the 1919 Black Sox scandal. He went after Bear Bryant in print several times, most notably [...]
barney strickland
March 19th, 2012
7:04 pm
I remember I first moved to the ATL in 1979 when I was 12 from Maine and immediately started reading Bisher. I BEAT BISHER!! …… Anyone remember that contest the AJC had whereas if you picked better than Furman… they sent you a congratulatory bumper sticker…?? I had a couple of them !! Wow. I thought he would write forever…..
jj
March 19th, 2012
7:32 pm
His columns used to irritate the heck out of me. If that doesn’t show that Mr. Bisher was a good columnist, nothing does.
Steve W.
March 19th, 2012
7:54 pm
Jeff, glad you got to know Furman. he was a patient (and friend) of my
Father’s. spent many a Sunday at Furman’s house after church. playing ball with his kids. not realizing till years later what a great writer and man he was. missed his column’s as they diminished as the years passed. life lesson: stay in touch with those you respect and love. they may not be here tomorrow.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
7:57 pm
nice story about Mr. Bisher.
http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/031912aab.html
Donna Briggs
March 19th, 2012
7:59 pm
Such wonderful words for a wonderful uncle! He was one of a kind and loved by many. One of my favorite things in life, from childhood into today, was to pour over the many scrapbooks filled with Uncle Furman’s columns. Hours upon hours of enjoyment reading his writings. As he inscribed my copy of “Thankful”, Godspeed to my “wandering uncle”. Thank you Jeff.
Sid
March 19th, 2012
8:01 pm
Your best I ever read. Goodbye Furman, God Speed.
James
March 19th, 2012
8:02 pm
I have the 1977 book by Bisher titled The Massters. It is a wonderful history of the masters and I will always treasure it.
Ed
March 19th, 2012
8:10 pm
I had no idea that Mr. Bisher was that old. What a life, we should all be so lucky. RIP
Mike Kane
March 19th, 2012
8:13 pm
Kudos to Furman Bisher on a great life lived and for being an inspiration to people who read and write about sports.
And kudos to you for a wonderful column. You knocked it out of the park!
Respect
March 19th, 2012
8:20 pm
Jeff, a classy farewell to a classy southern gentleman. I grew up in Minnesota in the 1960’s and 1970’s and the senior writer for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune was Sid Hartman. He was a great writer whose claim to fame was after the Super Bowl that Joe Namath predicted the upset victory Namath wouldn’t talk to anyone unless they followed him into the shower. Hartman was the only one who did and is still writing today. Then I got to Atlanta and found out about Furman Bisher. As great as Hartman was he was/is no Bisher. I have been fortunate to read the writings of these two great journalists for many years. God bless you Furman. As many others said, I loved all of your work especially your Thanksgiving columns. What he wrote about losing his son was truly touching.
DetroitBraves
March 19th, 2012
8:24 pm
Furman Bisher was a magnificent writer and wonderful sports historian. Though I don’t believe he embraced sabermetrics in the way I do (as Jeff is probably aware) I always got a kick out of how we would reach similar conclusions coming from such different directions and eras. For instance, I believe Mr. Bisher and I feel very similarly about these things they call closers in baseball. A wonderful writer he has sorely been missed in retirement. An engaging, captivating historian (the guy interviewed Shoeless Joe Jackson for God’s sake) he is missed sorely today. Rest in peace Mr. Bisher. You are definitely one of the best.
Martha Hairston Jost
March 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
Thanks for the story Jeff! Mr. Bisher’s passing seems like the end of an era.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
8:57 pm
How ironic that Bisher wrote a well-known feature on Shoeless Joe Jackson, a man who paid dearly for his misdeeds.
I guess the payoff for Bisher’s misdeeds was more subtle: He to cover forty more years of GT football futility (at team presently non-competing in America’s worst major football conference).
In great contrast, ‘Bama football has dominated for decades, with no signs of slowing down.
God truly works in mysterious ways!
Buzz
March 19th, 2012
9:11 pm
I learned to read by reading his columns aloud to my parents at the dinner table 50 years ago.He will be missed. Joel take your hatred somewhere else.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
9:29 pm
Joel NEVER told a LIE in his life I guess.
THE BAMA NATION TOO
March 19th, 2012
9:30 pm
@ JOEL SHORT……I WAS YAPPED AT BY A UNAWARE MORON @ 12:50 P.M. TODAY FOR EXPRESSING MY DISPLEASURE FOR F.BISHER!! I APPRECIATE YOU FAIR & ACCURATE REPORTING OF THE BASIC REASONS FOR THE TRUE DISTAIN BY THE BAMA NATION!!! I TOO DO NOT WISH TO BE DISRESPECTFUL TO A DEAD MAN HOWEVER,HE WAS ON THE CUTTING EDGE & DID NOT KNOW IT. YOU SEE F.BISHER WAS ONE OF THE FIRST REPORTERS TO START A TREND THAT CONTINUES TO THIS DAY…………….REPORT WHAT YOU THINK TO BE TRUTH (TRUTH BE DAMN) NOT WHAT IS FACT & WHEN EXPOSED TO BE A LIAR………….DENY,DENY,DENY & NEVER APOLOGIZE………………..TO THE GRAVE!!!! THANK YOU MR. SHORT……YOU SIR ARE SPOT ON!!!
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
9:35 pm
hahaha Bear the mean Drunk never lied and was a total ethical person. Damn you Bama Fans are a great comedy troupe.
Ken Stallings
March 19th, 2012
9:56 pm
I’m sure the man would have cherished the option of hanging on long enough to experience another Masters. But, he shall now receive the praise and eulogies that those fine men in Augusta can reserve for the truly special men who touched their sport.
My sympathies, Jeff, it is tough to lose a mentor and a friend. There is solace in knowing your mentor was loved by so many in the world. I never knew him like you knew him and I consider myself poorer for that. But, the few times I exchanged words with him were cherished moments and I enjoyed it at the time and will value it for the rest of my own life.
Furman Bisher belongs to the ages now — a man who’s legacy will stand long after his mortality.
Felix 17
March 19th, 2012
9:57 pm
Selah.
Felix 17
March 19th, 2012
10:04 pm
So I’m in the seventh grade and I learn the meaning of “sic” -the Latin abbreviation- from reading Furman Bisher’s column. I then use “sic” in an essay for school and the teacher marks it wrong. She didn’t know what it meant and probably didn’t read the great Furman Bisher. His writing was so good. That’s what I remember. Obviously he was always the best writer on a staff of good writers. And he always answered my e-mail. Oh I loved to read Furman Bisher. There was no filler. Thank you, Furman Bisher.
Felix 17
March 19th, 2012
10:07 pm
No filler. No vacuous,obvious padding. He could write and he could think. Original and had a voice. Oh, Ioved Furman Bisher.
Hey Bama
March 19th, 2012
10:08 pm
Trolls, you are speaking ill of the dead. Bisher did not write the SEP article. He did expose a new type of win at all cost ideology at Bama. I’d be scared of meeting the Bear when he had already treated the Graning/Holt incident as normal football. Holt should have faced criminal charges. You people know he stacked all of UA’s sports teams with football players in case of injuries to the football team. Whatever happened to the film of that game? There are still frames, but shouldn’t there be film? For those unaware please research Chick Graning and Darwin Holt. Don’t go to a Bama site because Holt is considered a hero. Look at the still frames and decide for yourself. It’s gruesome and attempted murder. Notice Graning laying on the field with massive face injuries and Holt celebrating with his teammates. Lastly, Holt visited Graning while he recovered. Holt told Graning that “if I meant to kill you I would have”. That’s the truth. Enjoy your legacy Bama fans.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
10:20 pm
To sum up, I’ve been waiting a LONG time to give this short paragraph rant — but the sorry SOB wouldn’t die. I’m very happy to finally give my little two cents of balance to his story (whatever few will read it).
Looks like someone was afraid to face an old man.
Hey Bama
March 19th, 2012
10:23 pm
Sorry, I forgot to mention that Mr. Bisher was spot on in his judgement. You guys are right in that he should have had an armed guard before going to a Bama practice and those armed guards needed to be from Georgia. Thanks for all you did Furman.
Ball Ground Dawg
March 19th, 2012
10:28 pm
Alot of good memories from Furman Bisher in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution. I especially enjoyed listening to Furman Bisher and Larry Munson on the UGA pre-game shows. The last one I remember was Larry’s last UGA-Ga. Tech game in 2007. Furman Bisher and Larry Munson were really a joy to listen to as they talked about the game that day and many games of the past. I wonder if WSB Radio could pull out a few of those for us to listen to one of these days?
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
10:35 pm
onfire1113
Best friend Ga. Tech ever had at the AJC. We will miss you.
==========
Hey, good to see some truth peeking through from the Tech Faithful.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
10:42 pm
“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”
=======
How telling. “Probably one of the most popular victories in college football…”
That says it all about the AJC’s attitude the premier program in college football history.
Sam
March 19th, 2012
10:48 pm
Selah
“alright, get the picture…”
” and a fan from…comes away with the foul ball”
All sayings from my youth and early adult life that I will miss greatly.
Chuck Turlington
March 19th, 2012
11:00 pm
Jeff, you nailed it with
“If he liked you, you knew it.
If he didn’t like you, you knew it.”
Furman never forgot a name.
chuck t
On Par: Bisher, the Loss of a Legend
March 19th, 2012
11:04 pm
[...] Jeff Schultz wrote so poignantly in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he was Bisher’s colleague for more than 20 years, he was a walking sports museum, having [...]
David E.
March 19th, 2012
11:15 pm
I’m sorry if you Alabama fans can’t get over something that happened 49 years ago. Oh well. The fact of the matter is that Furman Bisher was one of the best writers of his generation. From the time I was a kid, I would read his column before anything else in the paper. Whether you agreed with him or not, his writing was always superb. It’s a sad day. Selah.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
11:24 pm
David, I would love to “get over it”; however, FB never even one hint of an apology or mea culpa, not even when his actions contributed to bringing down on of the formerly great magazines of the age, the Saturday Evening Post. History and truth are on my side on this issue, and they both have thumbs point down for FB.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
11:26 pm
Joel Short show us a link where you have Proof Mr. Bisher caused the failure of the SEP.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
11:30 pm
5150 UOAD: Hey, you’re a big boy, and obviously have internet access. Ever hear of ‘Google’?
Wilbo
March 19th, 2012
11:31 pm
Schultz, you simpleton jerk, you couldn’t carry Furman Bisher’s briefcase.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
11:32 pm
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Furman Bisher might have been the first writer I regularly read. You’d have a hard time finding a Southern sports writer not paying tribute to his work this morning, even if only for its sheer volume, after he passed away at age 93 over the weekend. He wrote for 70 years, covering everything from college football to international sports to the Masters — always the Masters — and left a warm impression on just about everybody he met, including me.
Still, it’s important to remember on the occasion of his passing why Alabama fans aren’t quite ready to praise him without condition.
In 1962, the Saturday Evening Post ran a story by Frank Graham, Jr. about Tide coach Bear Bryant and Georgia coach Wally Butts conspiring to fix a game in Alabama’s favor. Bisher’s name was attached to the project. Bryant and Butts sued, and the Post was slammed by judges all the way to the Supreme Court.
Bisher didn’t write the story, but he did contribute investigative work in addition to being named in a suit by Bryant over an article alleging Alabama players were taught to master “brutality.”
Bryant claimed a major emotional toll from the story and its aftermath, and not just from the piece itself. At one point his house was torn apart by someone who was clearly looking for evidence of cheating, not stuff to steal. (No, Furman Bisher probably never broke into Bear Bryant’s house.)
Bisher was no fan of Bryant’s, especially since an Alabama player named Darwin Holt smashed the face of Georgia Tech return man Chick Granning despite a fair catch signal, ending the Tech player’s career. Bryant never suspended Holt, which upset his friend Bobby Dodd for years, supposedly helping convince Dodd to leave the SEC. The Atlanta media, by far the South’s most powerful, sided with Dodd all the way. To this day, you can find Alabama fans who’ll blame Bisher for any evidence of anti-Bama bias in Atlanta.
The Post, one of America’s oldest periodicals, was destroyed by the Bryant crusade, but Bisher went on to join Lewis Grizzard, Larry Munson and Ernie Johnson among the region’s most beloved sports voices. Bryant’s legacy completely recovered, but that’s the reason why Alabamans (and many UGA fans, while we’re at it) will pour out a measure less goodwill for Bisher than other Southerners will.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
11:37 pm
JOEL I can use it but I don’t see where FURMAN caused SEP to fail. I don’t see where Mr. Bisher wrote anything libeling DRUNK BEAR and Butts either.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
11:41 pm
“I don’t see where Mr. Bisher wrote anything libeling DRUNK BEAR and Butts either.”
Ohh…well your true colors (black and gold) have finally shown themselves…and as for your remark, you’re obviously not looking hard enough.
And I never said he wrote the SEP article, though he WAS it’s primary source, and thus was in a position to know this was a false story. He ran with it anyway, while taking the money. If he had done that in the Internet Age, he would have lost his job. You know it, and I know it.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
11:43 pm
And even a drunk bear can kick a Yellow Jacket’s butt.
Joel Short
March 19th, 2012
11:43 pm
Oh, and notice how I post with my real first and last name?
Yep, I’ve got something else you don’t have. Balls.
5150 UOAD
March 19th, 2012
11:51 pm
Hahahaha. I never hid who I am a fan of. Just another crying classless Bama fan. You cheer for a dirty program so enjoy that. I am sure not as many people that think highly of Mr. Bisher will feel that way about you but it is OK. You and your friends and love ones but Bear probably isn’t in heaven either. Paul played Dirty and cheated enough so maybe this one time he didn’t do it.
Ole Smoky
March 19th, 2012
11:57 pm
Might be one of your best efforts..Great stuff….
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
12:40 am
Hey, 5150 UOAD…
… don’t get into it with an ignorant, classless, uneducated Bama Updyke like Joel Short.
Don’t waste your breath on someone of such low intelligence and complete and utter lack of perspective.
These Bama Updykes like Joel Short, they could never accomplish in 100 lifetimes what Mr. Bisher accomplished in ONE.
No perspective. Pitiful lives in which football is their only respite from their miserable existence.
Such is the ennui of dullard, myopic Bama Updykes like Joel Short.
When you lack perspective the way these wretched people do, you lack in basic human decency.
Pity the Bama Updykes, 5150… but don’t waste your time in trying to educate them to the facts of history… they only believe in the Gospel of Bear.
They’re fanatics, and much as a jihadist, they cannot be reasoned with, because a Bama Updyke has NO reason.
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
1:24 am
Bama Updykes…
… Furman Bisher did not write the Butts-Bear story. He did some interviews for the story and handed them over to the man who wrote it.
What Bisher DID do was expose Bear’s newfound sense of barbarism and “win at all costs” teaching mentality earlier that year.
And because of that, Bear hated Bisher. Hated Furman for exposing him for the depths he was willing to sink in order to win football games, and as we know of your Sainted Bear, Bama Updyke, the last man to integrate his college football team, he was willing to sink LOW.
You lack perspective. You lack class. You lack basic human decency. And you lack all logic and the ability to reason.
You, Joel Short, are a Bama Updyke. I wish I could say you represented a small minority of Bama fans, but that is unfortunately not the case.
There is no more myopic group of people on the face of this planet, not Islamic jihadists, not abortion clinic bombers, not Tim Tebow Fans, not Red Sox Nation, not Suckeye fans, not Gaturds, not European Soccer Hooligans, not even DogKilla sycophants… NO group of people on this earth have a complete lack of perspective that the vast majority of Alabama Crimson Tide football fans do.
That is why I call you the Bama Updykes, after your unofficial mascot. Roll damn tide, indeed.
P. Bull Terrier
March 20th, 2012
2:18 am
I suppose it’s a sign that you’re growing up (getting old) when all of your favorite journalists and announcers (Bisher, Outlar, Grizzard, Caray, Johnson, Munson) have moved on to a better place and you still think of Jeff Schultz as the “new guy” at the AJC.
P. Bull Terrier
March 20th, 2012
2:43 am
I don’t think I have ever had a reason to side with 5150UOAD about anything, but the passing of Furman Bisher and the arrival of “Joel Short” has given me one.
The line, “To sum up, I’ve been waiting a LONG time to give this short paragraph rant — but the sorry SOB wouldn’t die” demonstrates what an ignorant, nasty hateful, and bitter person Joel Short must be.
Mr. Short, now that you have finally had your long awaited moment in the sun, please crawl back into your hole and stay there.
Selah.
Ron C Clair
March 20th, 2012
7:40 am
Knew a guy who told me a story about Furman Bisher – TC Chen who double hit a chip at Oakland Hills CC also made the first double eagle in the history of the US Open on the Thursday of the tournament (the US Open) at Oakland Hills…my friend who happened to be President of the club was on the course Saturday gallerying the Open out of a golf cart with the president of the USGA..he told me he got beeped and went to the clubhouse and damned if it was Bisher who wanted to know what Oakland Hills was going to do to commemorate TC Chen’s double eagle…my friend was so anygry that he was called off the golf course for this question said, “we’re gonna put a rice paddy out there” Chen was an Oriental, of course…then my friend took Bisher to task for calling him in…I was told this story as the truth and perhaps it is, however it’s a helluva story whether it’s true or not
Bill Sirkin
March 20th, 2012
7:52 am
Great tribute to a legend
Tuncer Someren
March 20th, 2012
8:02 am
I liked his “I am thankful”pieces very much.
Just remembered that I should have a few “I BEAT BISHER” t shirts somewhere with his red faced picture in front.
“I am thankful” that we had him as our own for so long..
Selah indeed
GT
March 20th, 2012
8:18 am
Grew up around Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, back in the 60s. Furman would come by on occasion and match wits. There was Bitsy, Coach Dodd and a ton of characters. They would gamble on the sun coming up anything for entertainment. Bisher was right in the middle of it, lost a dime or two betting Dodd, with Dodd using a coke bottle for a golf club, and some fool playing him getting so nervous he would whiff the ball with regular clubs. Then there was the checker board bet where Larry Shippey won some money from him beating the same “golfer” playing tennis with a wooden checker board. Even as a young kid I always wonder if that guy losing all the time wasn’t on the take, and even more wondering if Furman knew it but bet anyway just for the entertainment.
Bisher was a writer for the ages | Sports Field Guide
March 20th, 2012
9:05 am
[...] first authentic NASCAR race, and offered illuminating insights on sports, died Sunday, prompting countless eulogies for a man who defined sports in the South for many years. Robert Bohler, longtime journalist and [...]
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
9:31 am
Very Interesting Journal Photo in the background. I am surprised that Title was allowed in the South EVER.
Only the AJC hacks and Jackets care
March 20th, 2012
9:32 am
Funny that when the EXACT details go up that cover in depth what a lying scumbag this so called “hero” was and WHY Tide who remember have no use for the “man” … they get deleted by his like minded brethren .
Of course they leave up every attack made against Bama . Fish man would have been proud . While he had no problem pumping out his bilious and biased bile … he sure hated to taste it when it got thrown back in his face .
That’s okay … the AJC is already well down the road to irrelevancy that Georgia Tech and Furman Bisher have already traveled . Most of it is due to people like the fawning underlings at the AJC who idolized this lying hack … throwing even the token effort at truly unbiased journalism out the window
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
9:51 am
Bama fans Hate Mr. Bisher for 1 article about Bama cheating? That has to be the ONLY TIME Bama wasn’t cheating I guess.
Only the AJC hacks and Jackets care…actually thinks Paul Bryant is Classy and Honorable in all his dealings. If you take off your Crimson glasses you would see Bryant was not a god, a saint, or very ethical i many of his dealings. You only see what you wish & that is 315 wins. Why wouldn’t Bryant let African Americans on his teams? You are in love with a polished image of a Racists.
Jackie Thomas
March 20th, 2012
10:00 am
I’ve been reading Mr. Bisher’s column for over 60 years. When I was younger I didn’t care too much for the sports, but I loved his writing and his attitude. What a great and thoughtful person. I sent him a thankyou email when he wrote a lovely column about Celestine Sibley after she died. He graciously answered. He was one of the great writers on sports and life.
Ricky Booby
March 20th, 2012
10:06 am
If they havn’t already they should make a movie abour his life. He was the real deal and pure class..
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
March 20th, 2012
10:55 am
Jeff I assume FB sent you another note after the NC game regarding how Nick Saban raped LSU and MIles??? Really. FB and his backers over played their weak hand agains Bryant and had their azz handed to them but lets don’t allow the facts to get in the way of a great story. Sorry to barge in. What was Dodd’s record vs Bryant Bama//1-7 or 1-6? Funny as heck when some lib hacks attempt to teach an old country boy a lesson! At lease Tech and Notre Dame became giants of college football…wait..just kidding of course.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
11:10 am
willie…………Dodd was 2-7 against Paul “pour me another bourbon” Bryant at Kentucky & Bama.
Atlanta Gator
March 20th, 2012
11:39 am
Jeff,
I have often criticized your columns, but today’s work is darn near perfect: factual, sincere, personal and poignant. If you write more like this one, you may yet count me among your fans.
As for Mr. James Furman Bisher, I hope they still play the games where he has gone. If they don’t, it’s an awful waste of writing talent.
AG
GeorgiaDuck
March 20th, 2012
11:44 am
One of your best columns Jeff! I grew up reading Furman and Jesse Outlar. Actually quit listening to 790 The Zone after Mike Bell’s poor Furman impersonations. RIP Mr. Bisher and Selah!
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
11:45 am
Why are the Bama Updykes STILL here?
You know how little class you Bama Updykes are showing right now? What you are doing here is the SAME thing those people from that cult in Kansas do when they protest at military funerals, to try and further spread their message of hate.
Think about that for a second, you myopic bunch of Bama Upkykes. You are the SAME as the hateful freaks from the Westboro Church.
Have you no shame, Bama Updykes? Have you no shame?
russ spooner
March 20th, 2012
12:06 pm
Jeff…thanks for doing this piece on” Furlong Bisher”…..I gave him that nick name after I found out during a trip to kentucky with him for the UGA-Kentucky game that he owned a couple of race horses. They changed a day game to a night game so furman an I went to the race track and I bet on one of his horses…as I recall the horse went off at 7 to 5 and finally came in at aroung 8:15 thus the nick name Furlong Bisher. He was a good friend and I will miss him…we all will !
London Jacket
March 20th, 2012
12:11 pm
It’s been a tough stretch for those of us who love the old south way of telling stories. Losing Furman Bisher and Larry Munson within a few months of each other really does make you realize how much we miss the art of painting a picture with words whether written or spoken. ESPN Sportscenter misses this point entirely.
Furman Bisher’s Thanksgiving piece was always something that made me stop and reflect on things.
we were all lucky to share in his life and his views of what he saw. He was a great writer.
Monkey
March 20th, 2012
12:31 pm
RIP Mr. Furman Bisher.
We all know you grew as a reporter during your tenure with the AJC, however your legacy of the “infamous” Saturday Evening Post article of Butts and Bryant will always be one of your stained legacies. We all know that the writing was a way for you to make a name for yourself, but proved to be false and as it was taken all the way to supreme court to prove your writings were inaccurate. One really has to think that it was more of a vendetta piece than a story. Moving on.
We did enjoy your golf columns and your banter with fellow AJC writer Lewis Grizzard was some of the best I read and witnessed in person on many many occasions. We saw you temper your writings with age and We all enjoyed your spin on what you wrote.
SecFan
March 20th, 2012
12:33 pm
Bisher’s style was old school classy. Schultz’s is something else. I never recall Bisher taking cheap shots about a person’s physical appearance like Schultz does, even if he didn’t care for the guy. Bisher didn’t make fun of people. Schultz never misses a shot, as if he himself is in some arena trying to please spectators. Too bad all the sports writers who profess to love and respect Bisher the day after he died don’t seem to have been very influenced by him. Rest in peace Mr. Bisher.
Monkey
March 20th, 2012
12:39 pm
as posted on ibleedcrimsonred.com
RIP Furman Bisher, 1918 – 2012
Former Atlanta Journal-Constitution sportswriter passed away Sunday, the victim of a heart attack.
While I will not speak ill of the dead, I will only offer hope that he found peace and forgiveness for his libelous assault on legendary Alabama head coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant and former Georgia athletic director Wally Butts.
In May 1963, Bisher rushed a story to print in the Saturday Evening Post, accusing Bryant and Butts of conspiring to fix a September 1962 football game between the two schools. Both men sued the publication.
Bryant settled his claim out of court and in his autobiography, wrote that “the Saturday Evening Post took 10 years off my life.”
Butts took his case to a jury, and won a verdict worth just over $3.0 million that was later reduced on appeal. The Post’s publisher appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost every round.
The magazine never recovered, ceasing weekly publication in 1969. Bisher set out to destroy two very popular college football figures. Instead, he destroyed the Saturday Evening Post.
Bisher however, continued his disdain for Alabama and Bryant,in the Atlanta paper, never missing an opportunity to swing at Alabama, Bryant and Alabama fans.
He wrote his last column in 2009 and retired.
Get the background about The Post story and what it meant here.
Read what Coach Bryant wrote about the ordeal here.
RIP, Mr. Bisher. I hope you got right before the ticker stopped.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
12:51 pm
monkey Bear was nothing so special that he couldn’t be called out for being a Cheater and less than Moral or Ethical.
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
12:52 pm
Monkey and the Bama Updykes like you…
… how many times do you ignorant, stupid people have to be told… FURMAN BISHER DID NOT WRITE THE BUTTS-BRYANT PIECE FOR THE SEP.
All you have to do is do a cursory google search to find that out.
What makes you people so blind, deaf, and dumb? Do all you Bama Updykes possess the IQ of Forrest Gump???
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
1:07 pm
Your “sainted” and very much racist Bear Bryant, told you gullible ignorant Bama Updykes that Furman Bisher was the “mastermind” behind the Butts-Bryant piece, and you bunch of Gumps believed him, because football is more important than the truth.
What your drunken coach DIDN’T say, was that Bisher DIDN’T write the piece, wasn’t the impetus behind it, and was asked to just do a few interviews & gather background information, none of which were actually used in the story.
Your Sainted Racist hated Bisher and saw this as a prime target to slander HIM, because of the column Furman wrote earlier about how Bama’s coaching practices almost led to the death of a Georgia Tech player on the field, after which, your Drunken Bear didn’t even suspend or discipline his cheap-shotting player.
You people really are the worst kind of people in the world. You’d rather believe the word of a drunk racist than the TRUTH when it presented to you over and over and over again.
Because football is more important than the truth, right?
bali
March 20th, 2012
1:14 pm
thank you for writing such a good column on the great furman bisher..it was a pleasure to have grown up reading his stories in the journal…some of his stories should be put in a book and preserved for others to read in the future.,,i hope the journal will have some of his columns in the paper in the days to come…what a great loss…a true sports writer
Joel Short
March 20th, 2012
1:18 pm
[Correction: I meant to say at least the movie CHARACTER Forest Gump was honest.]
Bama=home of the T-bag special
March 20th, 2012
1:33 pm
I think that Mr.Bisher would be tickled pink to know that all the bashing of his name has caused something long time Atlanta natives might deem impossible. Uniting the UGA and Tech fan bases , their common theme you ask? Hate Bama ! My Lord what a collection of low life whiners and crybabies…someone said something bad against the Bear (and it was true) and decades later the Bama fans still have to bash them for it. You know why every college football fan outside of Bama hates your school and loves when you lose and get put on probation ? You deserve it!
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
1:35 pm
Joel Look at the kind of Program Paul Bryant started…
Langham attended the University of Alabama, where he played for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team as a defensive back from 1991 to 1993. As a junior in 1993, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American. Later, however, he caused the Crimson Tide to forfeit most of its 1993 season and suffer NCAA sanctions by secretly signing with an agent during the previous offseason. Langham also signed and submitted an application to enter the 1993 NFL Draft, rendering him ineligible under NCAA rules, regardless of whether he had signed with an agent or not. The Crimson Tide’s head coach, Gene Stallings, failed to inform both the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) of Langham’s draft application, or to declare Langham ineligible as required by NCAA rules. His ineligibility was revealed in late November 1993, and the University of Alabama eventually had to forfeit eight wins and a tie from the 1993 season.
He still holds the Crimson Tide’s team record for career interceptions with 19.
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
1:40 pm
At Bama=home….I don’t HATE Bama. I love to watch them play. I just don’t buy into all the Greatness without the under the table deals they have lived on since Paul Bryant arrived in 58. Bama fans are Blind to the truth as are most fans of their teams. I know what TECH is. I hate that we are not better but I respect what Tech does to make sure Student Athletes don’t get special treatment in the classroom just for success on the gridiron.
Bama=home of the T-bag special
March 20th, 2012
1:49 pm
@5150 UOAD I understand and respect your stance, I have a real problem with the typical Bama bully mentality when they are up they are in everyone’s faces 24×7 with Roll Tide, those years they are down or on probation they are no where to be found. Many of the poser on these blogs are prime examples , not all of them by any means….two years ago most were “Auburn” fans.
PreyDawg
March 20th, 2012
1:53 pm
Hey young man….I like what you wrote.
PreyDawg
March 20th, 2012
1:54 pm
I watched SportsCenter last night. Never heard a word mentioned. Sad.
Monkey
March 20th, 2012
1:57 pm
In 1962, the Saturday Evening Post ran a story by Frank Graham, Jr. about Tide coach Bear Bryant and Georgia coach Wally Butts conspiring to fix a game in Alabama’s favor. Bisher’s name was attached to the project. Bryant and Butts sued, and the Post was slammed by judges all the way to the Supreme Court.
Bisher didn’t write the story, but he did contribute investigative work in addition to being named in a suit by Bryant over an article alleging Alabama players were taught to master “brutality.”
Bryant claimed a major emotional toll from the story and its aftermath, and not just from the piece itself. At one point his house was torn apart by someone who was clearly looking for evidence of cheating, not stuff to steal. (No, Furman Bisher probably never broke into Bear Bryant’s house.)
Bisher was no fan of Bryant’s, especially since an Alabama player named Darwin Holt smashed the face of Georgia Tech return man Chick Granning despite a fair catch signal, ending the Tech player’s career. Bryant never suspended Holt, which upset his friend Bobby Dodd for years, supposedly helping convince Dodd to leave the SEC. The Atlanta media, by far the South’s most powerful, sided with Dodd all the way. To this day, you can find Alabama fans who’ll blame Bisher for any evidence of anti-Bama bias in Atlanta.
that was from SB Nation….
What many of you poster do not realize is that my family and the Bisher family were friends, very close friends. In fact, on more than a half of dozen occasions during The Masters week that Arnold Palmer and Mrs, Winnie would stay at our family home and Furman Bisher would stay there as well either overnight or late in the evening throughout the week. My family and his son’s were friends for two weeks each year on an annual basis. The back story, half of my family is GT graduates and the other half are Alabama graduates…I was fortunate to graduate from both. The Saturday Evening Post was discussed on several occasions with the great Furman Bisher who would laugh and say that he made a few mistakes and that he wished that he had been more vocal about some bad reporting in the article that would have his name attached to even though he “did not write a single sentence” in the article but he was used more as a sounding board than even an so called “investigator” as it was reported.
I have nothing but respect for Mr. Bisher(as always called him) and getting to know him was one of the great pleasures of my life. But I know that he was never a fan of Alabama, and that is okay, and half of my family would hound him on it, the other half( GT) would just sit back and laugh at the banter..
Got to love folks who want to bring up updyke, or tea bagging while each week we find another UGA getting arrest while not winning a NC in over 32 years and living with the Truthful Jan Kemp story on campus, and a Harrick course study on campus. Selah….
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
2:15 pm
What a Bama Updyke doesn’t say, while he’s trying to give “credence” to what he’s cutting and pasting, is that ibleedcrimsonred.com is a FAN SITE… and that article written on SBNation is NOT by any accredited journalist, but again, by a FAN BLOGGER.
He’s telling us these lies, believed by the same kinds of Bama Updykes that HE IS, are truth.
See… they cannot see their own ignorance for what it is. They have no logic. They have no reason. They have no human decency.
All they have is football. Their ennui overwhelms them. Their lives are otherwise empty without football.
They are Bama Updykes. Roll Damn Tide.
Joel Short
March 20th, 2012
2:17 pm
These rants about Bear Bryant being a racist and his “under the table deals” are EXACTLY the sort of blood libel practiced by the Furman Bisher’s of the world. The bottom line: Bisher was a GT hack that went after his team’s biggest rival, even to the point of lying. He got caught, but didn’t pay — in my opinion — enough for his misdeeds; however, perhaps having to cover 47 more years of GT football futilty is pain enough. [Again, God works in mysterious ways.]
And I LOVE these excuses that Bama ‘cheats’, ‘plays dirty’, is ‘racist’, etc, whereas the great GT is without sin, AND that their players have the terrible burden of ‘having to pass pre-calculus’.
History has shown the GT football program to be a failure, with UGA not doing much better. This at two schools with huge population bases, great wealth, and other advantages over a state like Alabama. Yet what do we get from these ’sucessful’ people? Decades of whining and excuses, and being neighbors to the best football program in the nation, decade in and out, of the last 80 or so years.
And one more thing about GT, you people have bragged for decades about your role in the space program; however, history has shown that the sucess of the moon program was due to a bunch of German scientists. Once they retired, and the GT grads took over, NASA was run into the ground. That’s right, folks, the STS program was one big stinking failure. Another loss in the GT column!
Roll Tide, punks.
Bama=home of the T-bag special
March 20th, 2012
2:23 pm
@Monkey nice story, and you can call me on the carpet if I ever go on to a Bama blog and bash Bama,but I’ll never have to go far to bash Bama “fans” on a UGA blog…
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
2:23 pm
Joel the best the you said/posted was at the end…………..Roll Tide Punks is right.
you are gutless when you said you WAITED for him to DIE before you would post your rant.
What are you to CS to post when he was alive or to email it to him so he might respond?
You are scared of a old man. Yes bear never played black players until he was forced too.
Henthabox
March 20th, 2012
2:33 pm
A nice reflection. I always thought that FB hid his prejudices better than most who ever wrote
for a living. He had great style and integrity.
Joel Short
March 20th, 2012
2:40 pm
5150 UOAD:
Would you like my street address? You talk like you would really like to meet me. Email me at skipllc@aol.com, and I will give it to you.
And providing ‘balance’ is all I’ve been doing. Judging by the responses of you and some others, I’ve clearly been a total sucess. Thank you!
Oh, you’re out of your mind if you think Bryant was ‘forced’ to use play black players. You’ve been drinking the GT Koolaid (which is specially flavored for losers) way too long.
This is my last post on this subject.
UGABugKiller
March 20th, 2012
3:01 pm
Thank God… adios Bama Updyke. Please… feel free to never come by again.
ATLANTA FAN
March 20th, 2012
3:11 pm
I only met Mrs. Bisher a few times while servicing his car in Fayetteville. He was indead a class act. Nice writing Jeff. And yes you could tell when he liked someone, I was lucky to be one of them. R.I.P
ATLANTA FAN
March 20th, 2012
3:11 pm
I only met Mrs. Bisher a few times while servicing his car in Fayetteville. He was indead a class act. Nice writing Jeff. And yes you could tell when he liked someone, I was lucky to be one of them. R.I.P
5150 UOAD
March 20th, 2012
3:23 pm
Joel Short I have no reason to want to know your address or send you a personal email.
Bama integrated in 1963.
For years, Bryant defended charges of racism by saying the social climate didn’t allow him to go after black players. In 1970, Bryant recruited Wilbur Jackson as Alabama’s first African-American scholarship player. The following season, junior-college transfer John Mitchell became the first black to play for Alabama.
63 to 71 so it took 8 years because the social climate wasn’t ready? Ernie Davis play against Texas in 59 to win the national Championship. It took 4 years to allow blacks as students to Bama after Ernie’s game in the south and then double that time to get players? WHY social climate? Nice word for racism. Paul Bryant got any ANYTHING he wanted. IF he wanted black players he would have had them in 64 and you know it. Funny that the Team Bryant used to coach was the first to have a black player. 1960 Kentucky had a black player. So it took 11 years for the Social Climate around Bryant to change enough to play a black player? Tech had a black player in 69. He started in 70 his name? Eddie McAshan and he was a QB.
Producer
March 20th, 2012
3:37 pm
We have lost another institution this year. Jim Huber has also passed. Two of the most eloquent writers I have ever read. Damn sad. I know he was 93 and wasn’t going to last forever, but I always expected him to be here. And Munson, too…just damn….
athens mutt
March 20th, 2012
4:22 pm
Back in the days of two newspapers in the city, Mr Bisher was one I always read whenever the Journal hit the porch. If I came across a copy of the Constitution, Outlar was also a favorite. Two other sports writers, Lewis Grizzard and Ron Hudspeth were good back in the day, also. Schultz and Bradley can hold their own with those mortals. Mr Bisher was not mortal, he was legend.
Rest In Peace
March 20th, 2012
4:27 pm
Furman Bisher, thank you
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
March 20th, 2012
4:38 pm
Pile on the praise for the lib hack for I could car less. Coach Byrant fought George Wallace for years regarding our recruitment of Blacks and they didn’t share Tea to say the least. Any of you Jawja fans every heard of Lester Maddox? I thought so. Shove it and your one NC trophy!
Jeff…still waiting on the details of the Blank note Bisher sent you regarding Les Mile and Bama vs LSU II. Like most libs you can’t handle the truth and it has no part in your life!
Wreckmaniac
March 20th, 2012
4:38 pm
If Bammer was offended by Furman, they sure paid us back with their appalling treatment of the great BIll Curry who was fired after going 10-1 for the elephants. We’ll always remember that too.
Rest In Peace
March 20th, 2012
4:39 pm
Also, please give it a rest regarding the SEP article and Bisher’s article regarding Bama in that era.
UpDyke Bamards in here give more reason
March 20th, 2012
4:51 pm
Was there really another reason needed to hate bamalama (the school and the jackass, backward state)?
The Truth and You Know It!
March 20th, 2012
5:26 pm
The Truth:
Furman Bisher could spin a tale. Furman Bisher was a Tech Guy and a local Atlanta sports guy. He wrote some nice pieces over his many years. He would also throw little jabs into those articles to people he wanted to get “back” at whenever he needed to. His coverage of many sporting events were usually from a different angle than other sports writers. He was a “wordsmith” and he knew he could get a readers attention with the first sentence in his article.
UGA fans who are not old enough to remember do not realize he really did not like UGA but did his part to make sure they were covered with some nice articles when he needed to calm the natives.
He knew UGA was (and still is) a sports program that has not played up to their potential in most sports. Bisher had a small group of UGA folks he liked and respected, but he was a “Dodd” man and he knew the big picture was that UGA folks had a tendency(still do) to overexaggerate the good and undervalue the bad at every turn.
UGA is not a world renown program, it is an average program and has not lived up to their brothers to the north, to the west and to the south and that is the truth. Live with it, Bisher did.
Facts
March 20th, 2012
5:34 pm
1971 would be a turning point for Alabama and Bryant in more ways than one. First, Bryant was credited with helping to stimulate the intergration of southern college football, by recruiting Alabama’s first black player. Second, Bryant would engineer an offensive change from the pro-attack to the wishbone, thus setting in place a dominance of the 70’s.
While the University of Alabama and other southern schools had an intergrated student body for years, no SEC school had a black athlete on their football team. Bryant was by no means a racist, but simply didn’t pay much attention issue of intergration, mainly because he continued to win with his formula. Well as evidenced by the previous few years, his formula was in need of adjusting. Bryant saw good black Alabama players were moving out of state, then coming back and beating his teams (witness USC the prior year.) Bryant knew this was an unfair disadvantage and the trend had to change if he was to continue winning. Bryant was credited with helping to stimulate the intergration of southern college football. Within a year, all other SEC schools had black athletes on their roster.
The real truth about Bear Bryant ..not how UOAD alters or opinionates his…from
http://www.angelfire.com/al/bamacrimsontide/bearbryant.html
Sports Facts » Furman Bisher Dead: Award-Winning Sportswriter Dies At 93 – Huffington Post
March 20th, 2012
5:35 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution [...]
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/ [...]
John
March 21st, 2012
11:06 pm
A little out of season, but I am thankful for the way Furman told a story. Just so happened his stories also involved a game or tournament or event that I also enjoyed. But he made getting to the outcome much more interesting. I’m sorry I grew up too far behind the great writers and broadcasters like him and Larry Munson. Those guys are epic in the way they could paint a picture with their words. Selah
Sherill Racette
March 22nd, 2012
7:05 am
Hello, you used to write magnificent, but the last several posts have been kinda boring… I miss your great writings. Past few posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
Atlanta sports icons depart | BreslinSports.com
March 22nd, 2012
4:34 pm
[...] from Ty Cobb to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson to Hank Aaron, and I strongly encourage you to read this story by Jeff Schultz when you are done reading [...]
mcdaviddawg
March 23rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Over the last years, I have thrilled over the ocasional writings of Furman Bisher. He could always seem to put things ion just the right light. The world doesn’t produce people like him anymore. We’ve lost one of the greats.
Jon D
March 23rd, 2012
7:14 pm
The end of an era. When I think of sports and humanity, it’s Bisher. The end of a long line of great Georgia writing and communicating. Furman Bisher, Jim Huber, Larry Munson, Skip Carey, Ernie Johnson, Lewis Grizzard. As big as those names are, it’s a short list, but truly the end of an era. We got way better than we deserved with these guys. We should be thankful for that everyday and appreciate the ones who carry on the tradition and respect these great writers and broadcasters.
DeacInBulldawgClothing
March 26th, 2012
7:46 pm
Awesome tribute. Furman, Lewis, Celestine…. bet they are sharing some GREAT stories up there! May they always be remembered for their incredible stories… I mean articles!
GT Alum
March 30th, 2012
11:59 am
As you said so well, ” one of the few people who legitimately deserved to have the word ‘legend’ attached to his name.” His departure is a loss for everyone, certainly Atlanta sports fans. RIP, Mr. Bisher.
Trevor Grant
March 31st, 2012
9:24 am
From here in Melbourne, Australia, I wish to offer my condolences to the Bisher family.
I am no doubt one of many green young sports writers given a helping hand by Furman.
I met him when I covered my first Masters in 1985. I mentioned to him that I wanted to do a story on Ted Turner at the Braves. He organised my entree not only to the game but to a front row seat and interview with Turner.
Furman didn’t know me at all yet he saw he could be of assistance to a young journo who was feeling his way in a strange new environment. He didn’t have to do it. But clearly it was in his nature to do what he could to help.
Each time I returned to the Masters (and to the Atlanta Olympics) he was always there, with a friendly smile and a helping hand whenever it was needed.
Long before I met him, I knew he was a brilliant writer. Once I made his acquaintance, I discovered that he was also a wonderful man.
— Trevor Grant, Melbourne, Australia.