The mighty Munson: A singular voice that will resonate forever
Larry Munson: The man, the voice, the legend. (AJC file photo)
He wasn’t the classic radio voice. On purely technical terms, he wasn’t the paragon of play-by-play, either. But such was the power of the mighty Munson personality that none of that mattered. You didn’t care if his calls were vague or his growl sounded like a Waring blender being jammed down a garbage disposal. You cared only that the man behind the microphone agonized as much over this particular football game as you did.
This isn’t to suggest Larry Munson wasn’t a pro. He was. But he was the amateur’s pro. There was no distance in him. He’d beseech the Georgia defense to hunker down – “One … more … time” — and he’d fret that a perfectly winnable game was unwinnable simply because that’s way of all fretters, and when the unwinnable game somehow got won the growl would raise hosannas as sweet as any bit of church music.
The idea of radio play-to-play was, in those long-ago days before every game found some television outlet, to paint a picture and to tell a story. Munson painted like Van Gogh on a starry night and conjured up better stories than Jack London. When the Georgia Tech broadcaster Al Ciraldo died a few years ago, Munson lamented his passing by saying, “We’re the last of a breed.”
In Munson’s day, the radio man was the fans’ only constant conduit to a team. On any given autumn Saturday nowadays we can watch a dozen games, but we couldn’t back then. The Rex Robinson game in Lexington in 1978? Wasn’t on live TV. The Herschel debut in Knoxville two years later? Wasn’t on live TV. The sugar-falling-from-the-sky game in Auburn two years after that? Wasn’t on live TV.
Any broadcaster could give you the down and distance; only Munson could give you the agony and the ecstasy. From property being destroyed on St. Simons after Belue-to-Scott to the Volunteer noses broken by the hobnailed boot, the Munson sense of imagery was a gale force unto itself. Nobody else sounded like him. Nobody else would choose the words he chose. The first time I heard Munson doing a Georgia game, I thought I had, by a trick of the ionosphere, tuned into some ham radioman having a nervous breakdown. The more I listened to him, the more I realized my first impression wasn’t far wrong, and I mean that in the best possible way.
There were no mail-in Saturdays for Munson. Every week was another passion play. Didn’t matter if the Bulldogs were playing the worst team in creation — Munson would worry to the extent that his listeners started breaking out in flop sweat because, halfway through the first quarter, Podunk State was “acting as if she wants to score.”
True fact: Vince Dooley, himself a worrier of renown, would try to avoid Munson during the week because, Dooley said, “he makes me nervous.” When Dooley would go overboard extolling some overmatched opponent’s virtues, we’d all wink. When Munson started growling on (and on) about the speed of Podunk … well, the winking would cease and the nerve-jangling would commence. You’d suspend disbelief simply because of the force of one voice.
I’m proud to say I knew the man, and I must tell you this: There was no artifice in the Munson persona. What you heard on-air was the Larry Munson. I’ll never forget that cold day in Auburn back in 2002, when 10-1 Georgia, ranked No. 7 in the land, was trying to win the SEC East for the first time. Before kickoff, I asked Munson what he thought. He looked at me as if I was crazy for even asking. “We haven’t got a chance in hell,” he said.
History will record that Georgia won on the fourth-down pass — 70-X-Takeoff, the play was called — from David Greene to Michael Johnson, and again the Bulldogs had overridden the odds and the fates and the primordial Munson doubts to prevail. And that was why Munson held us in such thrall: Georgia wouldn’t win because it had twice the talent of its opponent but because good had, miracle of miracles, trumped evil.
To listen to Cawood Ledford, the greatest pure play-by-play man who ever lived, call a Kentucky basketball game was to hear talent and craftsmanship. To hear Munson at work was to be bombarded by the sheer depth of feeling for what he was witnessing. When the famous Memphis record man Sam Phillips first heard the blues singer Howlin’ Wolf on the radio, Phillips is said to have said: “This is where the soul of man never dies.”
To hear Larry Munson call Georgia football was to experience something similar. (And surely it was no coincidence that Munson was, in an earlier manifestation, a professional piano player. He had the ears to go with the voice.) The great man passed away Sunday night at age 89; the great growl will live forever.
By Mark Bradley
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378 comments Add your comment
DS_CE91
November 21st, 2011
10:54 am
Godspeed, Mr. Munson. I am a Tech alum living in South Georgia with lots of UGA pals, and I will admit that more than one Saturday was soured for me listening to Larry describe the Dogs path to victory over the Jackets. Still, I was always entertained.
My condolences to Bulldog Nation.
Bud
November 21st, 2011
10:56 am
He spoke at a Bulldog meeting in Cols. and was introduced “if you can’t listen to Larry on the radio then the next best thing to do is get a ticket and go to the game”.
Beast from the East
November 21st, 2011
10:58 am
“Any broadcaster could give you the down and distance; only Munson could give you the agony and the ecstasy.”
Well said, Mark. Munson was one of a kind.
DawginLex
November 21st, 2011
11:02 am
Beast
when are you paying up on the bet????
Frank Lane
November 21st, 2011
11:03 am
MB, nice writing. The notion that “he agonizes as much as you do,” summarized his difference versus other announcers. Very good piece.
GT FAN IN PA
November 21st, 2011
11:04 am
Munson one of the best ever- I’m sure him and Al will both be calling the game Saturday to all in the Heaven’s on Saturday- Sad Day for dawg fans. Al saying Toe meets Leather and Larry saying Hunker down!
Cat & Dawg Fan
November 21st, 2011
11:06 am
I grew up in Kentucky listening to the legendary Cawood Ledford call Kentucky Basketball but after I married a Bulldog moved south I grew to love the bulldogs listening Larry Munson calling it “between the hedges”. With the ever pervasive TV coverage of all college sports, there will never be broadcasters with the ability to paint a picture of the game in our minds and touch the emotion in our hearts like these two great icons.
Lengendary UGA broadcaster Larry Munson dies at age 89
November 21st, 2011
11:08 am
[...] Lengendary UGA broadcaster Larry Munson dies at age 89 By Chip Towers The Atlanta Journal-Constitution From AJC Staff Enlarge photo Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com UGA officials have confirmed that legendary UGA broadcaster Larry Munson passed away Sunday night in Athens. He was 89. Related Bradley: Mighty Munson [...]
Mark Bradley
November 21st, 2011
11:12 am
Thanks again for the kind words, folks.
I got lucky: I’ve lived in only two states, but the first was graced by Cawood Ledford and the second by Larry Munson.
oldfart
November 21st, 2011
11:13 am
Yes boys and girls there was once an era where no television coverage existed and artists painted the pictures in our heads with words. Most painted stark photographic scenes and Bradley hit the hobnail, if you will, on the head. Larry Munson was a Van Gogh of the spoken word. His impression of a fall Saturday in Athens was left floating in the air in living rooms and barber shops all over the state. With a voice containing all the gravel of a country road we sometimes didn’t get the exact detail but the color palette used painted a scene that was felt to the core. This is the death of a true artist in his craft. Godspeed.
T-bird
November 21st, 2011
11:14 am
Sad to hear of his passing. Am a UF grad and was attending school in late 70’s early 80’s and still have the last second call of the UF-UGA game Lindsey Scott play burned in my brain forever. RIP there was never a bigger bulldog fan and supporter.
Scott Center
November 21st, 2011
11:15 am
Haunt Tech
Buzzed
November 21st, 2011
11:15 am
I’m a GT grad that grew up in a UGA household. . . I have many great memories of listening to Larry Munson while working with my Dad on Saturday afternoons. . .
bamaguy
November 21st, 2011
11:16 am
What makes announcers like Munson so enjoyable is that they don’t even pretend at impartiality. They are “preaching to the faithful.” And Munson was faithful to the end. God Bless Him.
Bamajacket
November 21st, 2011
11:21 am
There was only one Larry Munson. Even, or in spite of, being a Tech fan, I loved to listen to him. Great cloumn Mark. What a voice, and what a fan he was. With Ciraldo gone too, an era has truly passed. We will never see another. Rest in peace Larry, and be careful about breaking that chair.
Greg
November 21st, 2011
11:22 am
Words have meaning. Munson delivered them audibly and with style and emotion. Mark, you just delivered them in-writing with equal style and emotion. Thank you.
Beast from the East
November 21st, 2011
11:22 am
DawginLex,
As soon as the season’s over. By the way, we didn’t agree on how long it was for. A week, month, year?
Cuz
November 21st, 2011
11:25 am
Mark I know I have an emotional tie to this but dang, that was one awesome article. You nailed it.
Get the picture. 1982. 785 South Milledge, Athens Georgia. Sitting on the front porch with 75 of my closest friends. One keg and one radio, no TV. All is silent as the gravel voice pleads out of the speaker.
“I know I’m asking a lot you guys, but hunker it down one more time!”
Auburn quarterback Randy Campbell throws incomplete on a final last ditch effort fourth-down pass. Georgia is able to run out the clock to claim the SEC championship and an invitation to the Sugar Bowl.
And the gravel voice erupts with,
“Look at the Sugar falling out of the sky, look at the sugar falling out of the sky!”
I looked up. You did too.
God bless you Larry Munson. The Bulldawg Nation is in morning. You are one DGD!
cannondawg
November 21st, 2011
11:27 am
My wife would tape the games and send to me overseas when I was in the USMC. To hear Munson’s voice was akin to having a Varsity chili dog or a Poss’ barbeque sandwich. It was a bit of home that could be savored. I’ll always remember our Top Dawg announcer with great affection. Thanks for all the memories, Larry.
Dawg man
November 21st, 2011
11:28 am
OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG Larrys gone!!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG !!!!!!
Huntsville Dawg
November 21st, 2011
11:29 am
Dear Larry, A part of me has died with you. You were my best friend. Yes, as a kid on Saturday afternoons and the occassional night game at Kentucky, you were my best friend. When I prayed to God to let the Bulldogs come back and win it, in your own way, you were praying with me. When we lost, you hurt as much as me. So many of my childhood memories involve you. With your passing, I am reminded that I am not a child anymore, therefore, much of my childhood passes, too. So, Hunker Down one last time, old friend, Hunker Down.
Alabama Dog
November 21st, 2011
11:29 am
Cuz: what you wrote reminded me of the ‘80 Georgia-Florida game after Lindsey Scott’s game winning touchdown- “I gave up, you did too. we were out of it and gone-miracle”.
dawgjohn
November 21st, 2011
11:32 am
Amen
Dawg fan
November 21st, 2011
11:32 am
Larry was the “perfect” uga man !!!!!!! I remember when Georgia was going to raise their academic standards and Larry complained, that we would be just like Vanderbilt——true georgia man, Win, but just dont graduate,
Murphy
November 21st, 2011
11:37 am
It is for sure a somber day in my house.I grew up on the call’s of Larry Munson and will never forget his unique way of keeping the Bulldwag nation on the edge of its seat.I will never forget the pure enjoyment he brought me on Saturdays.My only regret was that my kids didnt get to enjoy his call’s like I did.I will always be in debt to him for making Georgia Football Saturdays great for me.Munson you will be missed!!!!!!!!!
Lynette Thibodeaux
November 21st, 2011
11:39 am
RIP Larry. The Bulldawg Nation is in morning for a DAM GOOD DAWG!
Enjoy meeting all the other GA legions in heaven and remember to let the rest of us in when it is our time.
To your family: our thoughts are with you and may you remember all your good times.
Lynette BSA ‘79
Roadrunner
November 21st, 2011
11:41 am
Last of a kind to be sure, Rest In Peace Larry. The Bulldog Nation will never forget you!
DawginLex
November 21st, 2011
11:47 am
Beast
Given the way this blog works, it’s ok with me if you don’t change your blog handle.
I give you props for going along with it.
Why don’t you sign every blog post at the end of it with
sincerely,
BeastofTheEastEatenByDawg
for about a month or so?
Beachdawg
November 21st, 2011
11:49 am
UGA will probably name the press box after Larry now. I only wish they’d done already. He was a pretty humble guy, but he’d have enjoyed seeing it happen. And where IS the chair he broke when “run Lindsay run” happened?? It needs to be in the athletic building with all the other trophies!!
juice sourcer
November 21st, 2011
11:53 am
That’s a great piece of writing.
CHUCK UGA
November 21st, 2011
11:53 am
Mark, well said. I will miss him so much. Such is the tragedy of growing old, and coming to realize that fathers, grandfathers and legends we hold so dear are indeed mortal. I’ve lost a link to my childhood (first game of the 1972 season when I first heard Larry call a game). It’s great to see a Georgia game in person, but there was nothing as elegant and exciting than hearing that man call a game over the radio. God bless Larry Munson. Thanks for the memories.
Tenn Vol
November 21st, 2011
11:55 am
What happened? Did he get stepped on by a Hobnail Boot?
Dawglasville
November 21st, 2011
11:56 am
The best piece of writing I’ve seen in a while. You nailed it Mark.
I think that the 82 Auburn game was his best call.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
11:56 am
You know, what of the best things about Larry broadcasting a game was his abilty to paint a picture for every play during a game. I remember when I was first living in Atlanta and listened to both Tech and Georgia games on the radio (before Florida games were broadcast on TV).
Larry would call a running play like this: “Belue yanks the ball from under center, turns, hands the pigskin to Hershel…..(pause)……5…6…7….yards….down he goes….5 guys pulling, trying to get him down….my gosh, my gosh….they got him down!”
I would then turn to the Tech game and Al Cirrado (sp) would call a play like this:
“There’s the snap (you would then here the crowd roar)…..and CIrarrdo would be sayging: “There he goes. Wow. Down he goes.” Sometimes you didn’t know who was running the ball, how many yards were gained, or where the ball was after the play was over. All you heard was Al getting excited.
This is why it was so great to listen to Larry on the radio. It was like reading a good book and picturing the scene you were reading in your head…..except the picture Larry painted was much, much more vivid.
Larry…..you were the best. Your immediate family, your Georgia family, and your college football nation family…..will miss you greatly.
RIP.
Dawglasville
November 21st, 2011
11:59 am
Oh, and there should be a statue erected.
CHUCK UGA
November 21st, 2011
12:00 pm
One additional note: First time I saw and spoke to Munson was when he was riding in the Homecoming Parade down Milledge Avenue (can’t recall if it was 1979 or 1980). He was sitting in the back of a convertible (on top, not down in the seat) drinking a Stroh’s Beer. Spoke to him and asked if he had anymore of those 45-inch records of James Brown’s version of “Dooley’s Junkyard Dogs” which he and others had been handing out (James Brown was in the same parade). What a funny scene! Also got to speak with him on New Year’s Eve afternoon at Jackson Square in New Orleans. A kind man who always was willing to have a conversation with us fans.
Beachdawg
November 21st, 2011
12:00 pm
Maybe Winston Groom, who wrote Forrest Gump, was a Munson fan which led him to pen the line, “Run Forrest”.!!!
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:01 pm
Tenn Vol…..
I saw the play on TV (to my sorry I was not listening to the radio and Larry)…..and I can tell you that the honnail boot landed squarely in the face of the Tennessee players….and I am sure everyone listening to the Georgia broadcast could see that hobnail boot as clearly as a multi-colored fish while snorkling off a island paradise beach.
Tenn Vol
November 21st, 2011
12:03 pm
Or maybe he choked on the “sugar falling out of the sky”
mrb
November 21st, 2011
12:04 pm
As a Tech fan from birth, cursed some Dog fans might say, I grew up listening to Al and Larry call games. Their styles were completely different but both voices were in their own unique way perfect embodiments of the two fan bases. Larry was a great one. Indeed, the last of a generation. And I’d be lying if I didn’ say that makes me a bit sad. R.I.P Larry.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:05 pm
Beachdawg….
I am sure Larry would not let them name anything after him while he was alive. It was who Larry was, I believe, and what he stood for, I think. Simple man taking pleasure in simple things most of him live…..like a good dark beer (when he was allowed to drink), college football, and a hot dog covered in green relish and mustard.
WarEagle
November 21st, 2011
12:05 pm
@ Tenn Vol,
LOL, maybe Lindsay ran over him!!!!
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:06 pm
Tenn Vol…..
Why don’t you take your comments back into the redneck hills surrounding Knoxville. Not needed here…..today.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:07 pm
You too….War Eagle.
Tenn Vol
November 21st, 2011
12:07 pm
Awwwwww, are we mourning?
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:08 pm
Tenn Vol and War Eagle…..
There is classless….and then there is disrespectul classlessness. You two fall into the second category. Shame on you.
gabugman
November 21st, 2011
12:08 pm
RIP Mr. Bulldawg.
“Munson would worry to the extent that his listeners started breaking out in flop sweat”
Munson caused me to break out significant adult beverage on more than one occasion…
harold
November 21st, 2011
12:10 pm
LARRY MUNSON AND JOHN WARD AT TENNESSEE WERE THE GREATEST EVER!
WarEagle
November 21st, 2011
12:10 pm
@ TampaGator,
You should be mourning the season ya”ll had!!!
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:11 pm
War Eagle….
Not the place for it here. Please. Show some respect.