Celebrating a UGA legend: Larry Munson at 89
Happy birthday, Larry! (Brand Sanderlin / AJC)
Today’s Larry Munson’s 89th birthday! To mark the occasion, here’s a piece I wrote a couple of years ago about my favorite Munson calls. …
I remember when Larry Munson, who’d spent a season as part of the newly arrived Braves’ original broadcast team, first took over from Ed Thilenius as the voice of the Georgia Bulldogs.
Even as a ninth grader, I was already a Bulldog traditionalist, and like many fans, I found the gravelly, staccato bark of Munson took some getting used to after the smooth, mellow tones of Thilenius.
I didn’t dislike Munson. In fact, I felt he’d been wronged when he got crowded out of the Braves booth by the tremendous ego of Milo the Mouth. Still, I remember feeling that Munson came across on his early UGA broadcasts as something of an outsider.
For some reason, I recall the moment when Munson won me over and I finally considered him one of “us.” It was the 1968 game matching No. 5 Georgia with No. 12 Auburn for the SEC Championship. It wasn’t so much any specific call or turn of phrase; he just sounded so into the game, like it really mattered to him whether the Bulldogs won. From that time on, Munson was the man, as far as I was concerned.
By the late ’70s, fans had started quoting Munson calls, and then the Munson phenomenon really took off in the 1980s (”There goes Herschel!”) as we started getting audio and video compilations of his greatest moments. Eventually it reached the point where Munson became an icon even outside the Bulldog Nation. Hardly a week goes by during college football season that you don’t hear somebody on ESPN drop into a growl to imitate the great one.
Since it was announced this week that Munson is being inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, it seemed like a good time to celebrate the Munson legacy.
It’s easy to pick the three greatest Munson calls of all time; most fans have them memorized: “Run, Lindsay” from the 1980 Florida game (including the end bit about breaking “a metal steel chair” and his “Man is there gonna to be some property destroyed tonight!” warning; the whole extended “Hunker down” scenario culminating with “Look at the sugar falling out of the sky” from the 1982 Auburn game; and, probably the all-time favorite, from the 2001 win in Knoxville: “We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose!”
I asked a bunch of Dawg fans about their favorite Munson calls other than those three, and the ones most often cited are from the 1980 Tennessee game, the 1975 Florida game and the 1978 Kentucky game.
The Tennessee play, of course, introduced Herschel Walker to the Bulldog Nation. It went like this:
“Tennessee leading 15 to 2, the crowd roaring against Georgia trying to make them drop it so they can’t hear. We hand it off to Herschel, there’s a hole, 5, 10, 12, he’s running over people! Oh, you Herschel Walker! My God almighty, he ran right through two men, Herschel ran right over two men, they had him dead away inside the 9. Herschel Walker went 16 yards, he drove right over those orange shirts, just driving and running with those big thighs. My God, a freshman!”
The 1975 call of an 80-yard touchdown pass from Richard Appleby to Gene Washington, one of my favorites, was an early example of Munson’s penchant for completely off-the-wall analogies:
“Appleby, end around, he just stopped, planted his feet and threw it, and Washington caught it thinking of Montreal and the Olympics, and ran out of his shoes right down the middle 80 yards. Stadium rocking, stunned, the girders are bending now, look at the score.”
And the 1978 call of a late Rex Robinson field goal that beat the Wildcats was Munson at his simplest and was notable for the fact he never actually said the kick was good:
“Sixteen to 14, Kentucky, with eight seconds! The stadium’s standing. Naw, some of ’em are upside down, but they’re trying to stand. It’s gonna be held just inside the 19. It’s set down, he puts it up, it looks good, watch it, watch it … yeah yeah yeah yeah! He kicked the whatchamacallit out of it!”
Another early favorite of Andy Johnson fans is from the 1973 Georgia win over Tennessee:
“Georgia’s got a first down on the Tennessee 26, the stadium rocking, the stadium can’t believe it… Georgia is 8 and a half yards away, minute 17, minute 16, minute 15, second down on the 8 and a half. Andy’s gonna take it give it to Harrison … Faked it! Andy Johnson! Touchdown Andy Johnson! Touchdown Andy Johnson! What a fake, they hit Harrison dead on the 9 and Andy bootlegged to the left and scored. My God Georgia beat Tennesee in Knoxville.”
And then there’s another call of a famous kick, Kevin Butler’s 60-yarder to break a tie with Clemson at Sanford Stadium in 1984:
“So we’ll try to kick one 100,000 miles, we’re holding it on our own 49 and a half, gonna try to kick 60 yards plus a foot and a half, and Butler kicks a long one, Butler kicks a long one … Oh my God! Oh My God! … The stadium is worse than bonkers. Eleven seconds … I can’t believe what he did. This is ungodly!”
Indeed. Great Munson memories. Any others that you’re particularly fond of?
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156 comments Add your comment
b-ham dawg
September 28th, 2011
4:45 pm
there were a few a in ‘07 remember that florida guy. moreno 8 straight time right down ur throat on the first drive.
DAWG
September 28th, 2011
4:50 pm
Munson………….the best……ever. Really miss hearing his calls. Wish these TV announcers would go to the Larry Munson school.
USAF Retired
September 28th, 2011
4:53 pm
I remember thinking no one could replace Bill Munday as UGA broadcaster having really come of age listening to him do the games. When Larry Munson came along I remember my dad and I wondering what a guy from up North was doing calling the dawg games…but he won us over and we both became huge fans. I really miss hearing both Larry and Loran as well…just not the same any more somehow. Many happy returns of the day Larry.
Mad Dog 1
September 28th, 2011
4:53 pm
Hell I liked them all so I will just say Happy Birthday Larry we miss you. GO DOGS
Tim
September 28th, 2011
4:58 pm
About 20 years ago, Larry came to AT&T to talk to the AT&T Pioneers. All I remember was how shocked I was to hear all these 4 letter curse words coming out of his mouth. I’d never seen anything like it from a public speaker and have not since then.
Awbarn
September 28th, 2011
5:06 pm
Didn’t Larry say something about a low-life Awbarn fan pouring Bourbon on him after the “Sugar falling out of the sky” call?
mark Pricht
September 28th, 2011
5:11 pm
too bad the last great calls he go to make were in 1980….almost as old as he is
mark Pricht
September 28th, 2011
5:12 pm
got
nerdster
September 28th, 2011
5:15 pm
Happy Birthday Larry! Best dang sports announcer ever! Best wishes to you and your family!
Dirty Dawg
September 28th, 2011
5:17 pm
Actually USAF, Munday didn’t do much ‘broadcasting’ – as in play-by-play – he did add some special ‘color’ to the broadcasts of Ed Thilenius, who we were devoted to back then and thought was pretty damn good.
I was living near Nashville when Munson took over for Ed and didn’t really get much of a chance to listen to the broadcasts. Friends down here mentioned him but weren’t yet really used to his style and the contrast to Thilenius. I watched and/or listened to Larry’s sports talk shows on Nashville radio and TV and noted that here was a guy gettin’ paid to broadcast Georgia games but was criticizing them during the week – what I didn’t know then was that what I was thinking was criticism was just Larry being his pessimistic self…even back then.
Obviously, once I got a chance to listen to him and marvel at his excitement and style, I was hooked. Yet it took several years before I realized what it was about him that was so special. From time to time I would be exposed to a thirties-era radio broadcast of some of the biggies and soon discovered that Larry was a throwback. The man sounded just like those guys that did radio back when that was all there was.
We loved him and we miss him – hell, even Tech guys used to talk about how much they enjoyed his broadcasts – not that Ciraldo was chopped liver, particularly with basketball.
Castle Pines Canine
September 28th, 2011
5:20 pm
One of may favorite calls was when Wycliffe Lovelace picked off Todd Rampley and ran it back for a TD. The Kentucky game in 78 was a classic also.
DAWGMAN
September 28th, 2011
5:22 pm
Is there a Larry Munson athletic scholorship fund to which I and other grateful BullDawgies may contribute? I expect it might raise quite a lot of moolah, scratch, dollars, yen, and euros.
Munson forever!
I used to drive 90 miles to a rest stop on the Interstate just so I could pick up the voice of Larry Munson. It was golden.
In my time as a Bulldawg, Larry Munson is the National Champion many, many times running. Get well, podnuh!
MerryMary
September 28th, 2011
5:24 pm
Happy Birthday, Larry!!! I’m a sentimental ol’ fool who is reading these posts with tears tricklin’ down and wishing for the old days when the greatest “play caller/color man” ever was calling the Dawg games…that would be you! I still miss you and it makes me sad to know there’ll never be another like you.
Santa Cruz Bulldog
September 28th, 2011
5:41 pm
Happy Birthday Mr. Munson
The one thing I would have loved to have been able, to do. I wish I could have spent a day, on the water or on a hunting trip, with Larry.
That would have been an awesome memory!
Pope UGA XXIII
September 28th, 2011
6:09 pm
Ohhh, look at the birthday wishes falling out of the sky !!!
There will never be another Larry Munson and I so proud to have
had the opportunity to have had brief chats with him over the years.
You know you’re getting old when you have recollections of the
Atlanta Crackers playing the Nashville Vols at Sulpher Dell and you
could pick up the boadcast on 1510 in Nashville.
Snack Shack
September 28th, 2011
6:48 pm
He’s just the absolute BEST!
Mobile Dawg
September 28th, 2011
6:52 pm
I’m not a spring chicken any more, nor am I over the hill yet. Larry was all I ever knew broadcasting UGA games. I’ve been out of state and radio range for a number of years now but nothing can “ever” compare to those calls told above as far as football goes. I miss Larry and the “old” way we used to play football, ya’ll remember, “The Georgia Way”.
Days of yore
September 28th, 2011
6:54 pm
Munson was always the most fun to listen to in the closing minutes of a game Georgia was losing. He was one of the world’s greatest whiners.
It would kill Munson if he had to broadcast games with the low class losers that represent UGA nowadays.
Return to national stage
September 28th, 2011
7:21 pm
UGA has lost its intimidation factor and has fallen out of the national championship hunt SINCE Larry retired. Maybe there is some way we can just have him call ONE part (even one play???) of a game in Athens and see if it helps us get the fire/good luck back!
Furman Bishop
September 28th, 2011
7:27 pm
I remember Ed Thilenius,and I remember Munson taking over as I was 15 or 16 at the time. In addition, I also remember Dooly beating FL 17 times out of 25. Munson could bring you into the stadium even if you were 1000 miles away. He can never be replaced. He and Richt are polar opposites. Munson…irreplaceable. Richt…well, what’s the use of commenting.
Jordan
September 28th, 2011
7:35 pm
One of my favorites that wasn’t listed was from Georgia’s game against Tennessee back in 2002: “Their blocking back’s moving, and they give it to Jabar. JABAR HE FUMBLED! And we dive on the ball! And we pick it up! We got a man running on the 20, 25, 30, RUN! He’s got blockers behind him, the 40, the 30, SEAN JONES GOING ALL THE WAY! SEAN JONES ALL THE WAY! Picked up a fumble and ran about 95 yards, and he had 6 blockers behind him all the way. Sean Jones picked it up. They were gonna run a sweep with him… (he) dropped the ball. Old lady luck just laughed out loud right there! Holy Smokes! (**Scott Howard voice** She was wearing hob-nail boots Larry). The ball game just made a little change right there. Its 19-7, time is out at the half. We’re gonna try the extra point. Sean Jones, with those wonderful hands picked that ball up and came running. You should have seen the escort he had all the way down there. They set it down and the extra point is up, and the kick is good. And the dawgs lead 20-7.”
nerdster
September 28th, 2011
8:06 pm
@Jordan…Excellent! So many to pick from…God Bless Larry Munson! Thank you
LakeDawg
September 28th, 2011
8:24 pm
I remember first listening To Munson as a kid in ‘71. Two things struck me about him. One is I imagined a guy in a fedora with a cigar in his mouth when he called a game. Usually someone doesn’t look like what you imagine them to be when listening to them on the radio, but I was right on! Second was how he captured the “spirit” of the game. You could tell how a game was going in the trenches just by the tone of his voice. He didn’t even have to mention it. His voice inflection let you know which team was starting to enforce its will a little bit. He captured me before he even made any of his “famous” calls. BTW The “famous” calls were famous for a reason. They were some of the best play by play calls in the history of radio.
Happy birthday Larry. You are the best.
ga gator
September 28th, 2011
8:30 pm
Happy B-day and even though I wince everytime they show the “Lindsey Scott, Lindsey Scott……” from Jax, it is still my favorite Munson call. You are the best ever!!
Gamecock fan
September 28th, 2011
9:00 pm
Munson was without a doubt the best. I loved listening to him in the stands at UGA when my Gamecocks were visiting. I loved that he was so completely sold out for the Dawgs. I hated losing to the Dawgs (which we usually did), but my favorite Munson call is from a mid 90’s rare Gamecock victory. The call is still played today all the time in SC. The gamecocks were driving, stopped at about the 2 yard line, and time was running out. A running play was stuffed, and the clock was ticking. Munson was saying, “Lay down, Dawgs. Lay down. 12 seconds, 11, Lay down, Dawgs.” And then, “Brandon Bennett, a great athlete, dove over the top with three seconds left and broke our hearts…”
Given the great number of whippings we have endured at the hand of the dawgs, I am not rubbing this in. I just thought it was an awesome call, and he made it real, whether the Dawgs won or lost.
Mobile Dawg
September 28th, 2011
9:22 pm
I always liked the way he started the games too. “Get the picture”, describing the unis, you could visualize the game just listening to him. Legends can’t be replaced.
ColumbiaDawg
September 28th, 2011
9:26 pm
Plays like Scott to Belue and Greene to Haynes would always have been memorable in Georgia football history. Munson turned those plays into something really special. How many moments in college football are remembered for how the play was called like Munson did in his 40+ years.
DawgVoiceofReason
September 28th, 2011
9:32 pm
Happy Birthday Larry!
No one has ever captured the energy, excitement and emotion of the moment on the big plays as Larry Munson did. His descriptions were beyond classic, both in how he described the plays as they happened and how he used phrasing and timing to drive home what was happening or had just happened on the field and sometimes in the booth. Never has anyone captured the feelings of the fans so many times in so many situations.
One of the great tragedies (from a fan’s perspective) of all time was the fact that he was not allowed to call Georgia’s National Championship game against Notre Dame. In hind sight, how I wish they had recorded him calling that game, even if it could not have been broadcast then, for posterity!
DawgVoiceofReason
September 28th, 2011
9:43 pm
ColumbiaDawg,
I couldn’t agree more.
I thought of another thing that Larry did better than anyone and that was counting down the end of a game. If Georgia was up by a small amount, he turned the remaining seconds into what seemed like hours as you followed along with him just hoping the clock would hurry up and get to zero. If Georgia was trailing, you could imagine the sands of time running out of the hour glass and slipping away, along with your hopes for victory. Both made victory all the more sweet when/if it finally came.
2georgiadawgs
September 28th, 2011
9:46 pm
We will never ever..get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cuz
September 28th, 2011
9:48 pm
When Larry said, “Look at the Sugar falling out of the sky.” I looked up.
Mobile Dawg
September 28th, 2011
9:50 pm
Did your eyes get misty and sticky?
Cuz
September 28th, 2011
9:52 pm
From your own column Bill.
WhatchagotLoran.
When Larry would utter that familiar phrase you never knew what to expect from Smith except that only occasionally would it have any relevance to what was happening on the field. A favorite story among fans concerns the mid-game sideline report from Smith that then-Georgia defensive end Charles Grant likes boiled peanuts — a revelation that was met with silence from Munson, followed by, “Third and six.”
Cuz
September 28th, 2011
9:54 pm
My eyes got a little misty but not sticky Mobile.
Junkyard_Dawg
September 28th, 2011
9:55 pm
NOBODY better at calling games!!!!! PERIOD!!!! Always had the tv on but turned down to listen to Larry. Even on games that weren’t televised, when he called the games, you would still be able to “Get The Picture”. There will NEVER be another as good!!!
Spike
September 28th, 2011
10:03 pm
Happy Birthday, Larry! To the best there ever was! The 1978 UGA-Kentucky game was the greatest!
NOBODYYOUKNOW
September 28th, 2011
10:13 pm
I’m sure I’m not the only one but when Larry was broadcasting the games I always turned the volumn down on the T.V. and listened to him on the radio. Most of UGA’s rivals hated him but thats because they wished they had him.
Alphare
September 28th, 2011
10:15 pm
ARDawg,
I can tell you definitely get your UGA education worthwhile. Larry must be really proud of a well educated fan like you.
Striker3
September 29th, 2011
12:04 am
The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.
macrotech
September 29th, 2011
12:53 am
Larry Munson has one of the best voices in the business! EVEN as a Tech fan, I would enjoy listening to his calls as I’d be traveling…UGA had a good one when they had him behind the mic. He is irreplaceable! Happy Birthday, Mr. Munson…you’re a Damn Good Dawg!!!
Lawdawg
September 29th, 2011
1:13 am
Schmeckdawg, I agree with you. Wes Durham is very good. He would be great at Georgia. I enjoy listening to him as much as anyone these days. The guys we have now are not bad, but they do not fuel the passion as much as Munson, but then who could?
RxDawg87
September 29th, 2011
1:44 am
Bill, you really outdid yourself this week, brought a tear to my eye twice. Larry Munson and The Athens Time Capsule all in the same week. Be still my beating heart. To be a Bulldawg is more valuable than silver and gold. My daughter is also making official visit next week to UGA. I’m not sure I deserve all this good fortune. (y’all help me pray she gets in, it’d be a shame to have to settle and send her to UVA, Vandy, or Emory at Oxford)
RxDawg87
September 29th, 2011
1:51 am
Almost forgot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARRY. You ARE truly the Big Dawg. Thanks for the memories!
Thomas Brown
September 29th, 2011
4:12 am
The list of players who were going to be on Scholarship here for this 2011 season is missing 29 today, with more to come – including but not limited to lost recruits. 29 of 85 Scholarships entrusted to this coaching staff of Mark Richt is MORE than one-third. You can talk about since this season started, since last season was over, or the actual number of Scholarships who were going to play here this 2011 season, who are in fact not playing here this 2011 season.
THIS IS A POSITIVE for a football program who is # 29 in 1-A wins after 2005, that MORE than one-third of the Scholarship Football Players for 2011 are GONE ? I’ll wait for that spin. I see in the 8 hours since this partial list of Scholarship Players for 2011 of the 85 for this season was taken from MY LIST my research my work that there is not 1 post yet while I was sleeping that begins to make this mess GOOD for the # 29 football program in wins after 2005 that MORE than one-third, 29, are now gone. HOW IS THIS GOOD ?
Thomas Brown
September 29th, 2011
4:13 am
Players we could have had playing 2011, how they all left
1.DE Justin Houston – would have been senior 2011
2.RB Caleb King – would have been senior 2011
3.WR AJ Green – would have been Senior 2011
4-ILB Brandon Burrows RFr waited until Fall Camp for surgery lost for year
5-RB Dontavius Jackson would be RJr transferred to UAB
6-WR Lonnie Outlaw – failed Qualify 2010, WR Ga Military
7-WR Walter Hill – kicked off team or would be Senior 2011
8-OL Chris Little – transfer NW C College then Southern U then ineligible academics
9-OG Ben Harden – would be Senior 2011
10-WR Logan Gray- Senior Transfer Colorado
11-DE Montez Robinson – would be redshirt sophomore 2011, kicked off
12-QB Zach Mettenberger – LSU,would be redshirt sophomore 2011, kicked off
13-DL Chris Mayes – Dream Team 2011 failed Qualify, MS Gulf Coast Nose Tackle
14-LB Kent Turene – Dream Team 2011 failed Qualify, Jireh Prep NC
15-DE Jalen Fields, failed to Qualify 2010
16-OL Brent Benedict, RFr. — Transferred to Virginia Tech
17-SS Nick Williams – Senior 2011, transferred North Alabama Strong Safety
18-OL A.J. Harmon, Jr. — Transferred to Alabama State
19-TB Washaun Ealey, Jr. – Transferred to Jacksonville State
20-LB Marcus Dowtin, Jr. — Transferred to North Alabama
21-FS Jakar Hamilton – Senior injured, transfer out
22-OG Kolton Houston R Fr NCAA eligibility
23-OT Jonathan Owens – Redshirt Junior 2011, medical disqualification
24-DE Jeremy Longo, Jr. — Medically disqualified
25-OL Tanner Strickland, Sr. — left program not playing senior year injury
26-OL Trinton Sturdivant, Sr. — knee injury
27-CB Derek Owens – Sophomore transfer 9/26/11
28-CB Chis Sanders 6 1 176 Tucker RFr shoulder surgery out season 9/28/11
29-RB Ken Malcome transfer
Georgia boy at heart
September 29th, 2011
6:04 am
I was an 18 year old high school senior being recruited by UT and this was the game I was invited to attend in 1973 when Andy Johnson scored late in the game and all I can remember is the pride I felt as a Georgia native when uga scored , all the other recruits were pulling for UT but deep down I was pulling for the dawgs but since then I have become a YELLOW JACKET and now pull against uga everytime they play …but it was a Saturday ingrained in my mind forever ..nothing is better than football in the SOUTH !!
DawgfromLexington
September 29th, 2011
8:07 am
Florida keeps it close till the second half. Then Bama’s depth makes the difference. You know Florida fans will be screaming for Muschamps head on a plate.Long wea from the ole ball coach and Mier. hard times in Okefenoke South.
PopeBUZZthe4th
September 29th, 2011
8:12 am
Best wishes Larry, may you enjoi a long healthy retirement. Stay away from the tube on Saturdays, might be bad on the heart.
Munson fan, but not a uga fan
September 29th, 2011
8:38 am
Happy Belated Birthday, Larry! Met him at the Kroger in Lawrenceville about 15 years ago. Very nice and humble. The store manager wanted him to get on the PA system in the store & tell about the things Larry had with him. Larry was like “No, no let’s not do that”. Also remember him on the Hometown Radio Show with Gary McKee around 1993-94. This was when McKee was between stints at 94Q & Z93. Very funny show.
David
September 29th, 2011
8:41 am
You guys know I hate Ga. But I have grown to love the greatest college football announcer of all time.
He has a voice that you will never forget. And guess what, the guy is also honest, not like the rest of you dawgs. He never felt the need to kiss Buck Bulue’s backsid for handing it off to Hershel. He gave Hershel his proper due. Perfect man, absolutely not. Just the best college announcer ever.