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
HM
November 21st, 2011
12:13 pm
Not too many people in one’s life provide a lifetime of memories for a whole lot of people. I’m one of the lucky ones for whom Mr. Munson provided countless memories. I will cherish them always.
To your family, God bless, and thanks for sharing him with us.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:15 pm
I think the Gators may have led Larry to partake a little too much of the hops brew there towards the end of his career. I know for a fact just how much he disliked the Gators…..from personal experience from the one time I met him in that Norcross Irish Pub. Beating the Gators….seldom as it was in the later years….brought him so much obvious game-day job and personal delight, I am sure.
RollTide
November 21st, 2011
12:16 pm
@ WarEagle and Tenn Vol,
This is the SEC family guys, sorry if you have never had someone with the class of Munson to listen to. You need to get off of here and try to figure out a way to fix your programs football teams. WarEagle, I hope you get what’s coming to you this weekend vs. Alabama.
WDE
November 21st, 2011
12:16 pm
@Tenn Vol yeah clown we are, we wouldn’t come on a UT site and trash a UT legend. Grow up!
Douglas
November 21st, 2011
12:16 pm
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.
Thanks Mark ……. needed a good belly laugh.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:18 pm
that should have read….
“So much obvious game-day joy.” Sorry.
John
November 21st, 2011
12:21 pm
Mark,
I was heading south on Gray Hwy in Macon Ga listening to Georgai Fla game. I was coming up to the red light in front of WMAZ radio and TV station as Larry uttered those infamous words, “Run Linday Run…. I had a sense that time had been ‘tatooed’ with the event and moreso Larry’s words.
John
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:22 pm
I believe Larry Munson calling games on the radio led to ESPN and other TV broadcasts replaying the calls of the team’s radio announcers during the games……with Larry’s voice always being the best of the best. I was so sad the day I heard he was retiring from the booth…..and made deeply sad by today’s news of Larry’s passing. What a gift to the college football nation he was. Glory to you Larry to doing that. RIP.
2HellwithGA
November 21st, 2011
12:23 pm
Some of my favorite Munson calls http://www.campusmack.com/colleges/georgia/smacks/130
RollTide
November 21st, 2011
12:25 pm
To: The University of Georgia,
Our condolences from Tuscaloosa, Al. Munson was and is a “Legend”. He will be missed in the SEC. The SEC is a family and we need to support each other in these times. Just like everyone has us from the devastating tornadoes that destoyed our community but with alot of help we are getting through it.
UA
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:25 pm
I wish I could come up to Athens to attend any and all memorials they plan to have for this great legend in college football broadcasting (and all football broadcasting for that matter) history.
Again, Larry, RIP…..and to the Georgia football nation: “My upmost sadness to Larry’s passing today. He represented your nation extremely well….and with so much dignity and honor.”
B
November 21st, 2011
12:27 pm
A great day for memories….. I easily recall the ‘73 game at Neyland: I was in my bedroom, just me and Larry: still one of my favorite calls as Georgia beat UT. After those years at Vandy, Larry was really happy to put on on the Vols. And years later in the parking lot at Neyland, listening to the little FM signal with the Georgia network pregame show, I remember this: “The UT band just went by playing that song. I shot ‘em a bird.” My UT buddy looked at me with pure incredulity on his face.
As a boy, my dad and I would go to games every week, leaving my mom home with an old tape recorder. She’d try to get the big plays on the cassette so I’d have the highlights to listen to when I got back home.
I didn’t go go Georgia, but that didn’t damper my love of the Dogs at all. In my dorm room at Davidson (never did get used to pulling for Cats) one night listening to the scratchy in-and-out of WSB, I heard Lindsay Scott run the second half kick-off back against LSU in Baton Rouge….and a few weeks later the “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” from Lexington.
And my junior year abroad just happened to be 1980. I got to go to Knoxville and see Hershel’s first game (Mom had the call on tape when I got back.) before I left for Scotland. I could pick up the Armed Forces network from Weisbaden–not real clearly, but enough. The Georgia-South Carolina game was the game of the week: I sat in a centuries-old room listening to Munson, explaining to my Scottish roommate how football works. He didn’t understand the nuances of American football, but the passion in that voice was something that that Scottish kid will never forget.
College football fans have lots of reasons to be passionate about their teams. Georgia fans have more than most. Thanks to Larry Munson, we have a better understanding of what passion really is.
Gator Mike
November 21st, 2011
12:30 pm
Larry Munson was the best. Although I am a Gator, I totally enjoyed his commentary. The DAWG Nation has lost a great one. Larry is in my prayers.
Rickster
November 21st, 2011
12:34 pm
If his family doesn’t mind… Larry should be interred at Sanford Stadium. The press box should immediately be renamed for Larry.
Edvis
November 21st, 2011
12:38 pm
Mark, the AJC is lucky to have you around because you are not only a great writer and perhaps a last tie to the Days of Dooley, you are a 100-percent appreciator of the culture that surrounds Georgia sports. I hope your career there continues for many years because we need the balance you bring.
So many have already said what is so true about Munson — his best games were before TV every week and national title contention, it was when a non-ranked Georgia was playing someone like Tennessee and it felt like the balance of (our) civilization was at stake. Those were the days!
That said, below is a nice Munson tribute from a pretty decent video about 1980 making the rounds.
http://youtu.be/FJ7ofAr5Wmg
59bulldawg
November 21st, 2011
12:41 pm
Between the memories and the eyes welling up with tears, I’m finding it really hard to focus at work today! Larry’s gone . . . and my heart feels like it’s been stepped on and broken with a hobnailed boot. Whoever said it earlier on this blog is absolutely right. He was the best that ever was or ever will be.
how2fish
November 21st, 2011
12:41 pm
TampaGator , RollTide thank you both well said.
TampaGator
November 21st, 2011
12:42 pm
Rickster…..
The first part of your post is weird….and I hope not. The second part is just right….and I hope they do….today!
how2fish
November 21st, 2011
12:47 pm
@59bulldawg glad I’m not the only one feeling that way today! Gator Mike thanks !
Alabama Dog
November 21st, 2011
12:51 pm
War Eagle: mournnig the season WE had? Your pathetic football team is still smarting from the BEATDOWN, yes, BEATDIWN Georgia gave them. Save your ridiculous, classless comments for an Aubie blog, you disrespectful MORON!!!!!
Dawg Man
November 21st, 2011
12:52 pm
Whadda ya got Loren?
Nelson Muntz
November 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
2HellwithGA, your link confirms for me something I’ve thought for a while: some enterprising person should make a compilation of Munson’s calls of onfield disasters. He was just as good – if not better – when the chips were down, when he was the Greek Chorus as everything was falling apart.
Bama13
November 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
In Heaven they’re saying “Have you seen this Munson kid? My God, a Freshman!”
DC Dawg
November 21st, 2011
1:01 pm
I’ll never forget the one time I ever saw Larry close-up. It was 11/29/80 right before the last home game of the 1980 season (and my freshman year). It was also the last game ever at the Tracks. We rented double decker scaffolding and spent the night out there the night before. The next morning was complete bedlam with bonfires and parties still going on from the night before. Me and a few friends were smoking a left handed cigarette when I looked up and saw a Georgia State Trooper coming our way. Thinking he was coming for us we quickly extinguished our smoke. Turns out the trooper was only there to escort Larry around the tracks so he could soak up some of the atmosphere before game time and meet some of the fans. We beat Tech that day 38-20 to complete our perfect regular season and I didn’t get arrested.
Munson Fan
November 21st, 2011
1:02 pm
Larry, hoping you and Erk and all the past Georgia greats sit back this Saturday, fire up a nice big cigar and watch us the beat the pulp out of Ga Tech. We’ll be thinking about you my friend. Thanks for all the great memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
rdnblkdawg
November 21st, 2011
1:03 pm
Thanks for all the amazing memories.
Beast from the East
November 21st, 2011
1:05 pm
DawginLex,
I’ll change my hanlde as soon as the seasons over for a month. A bet’s a bet.
goober
November 21st, 2011
1:09 pm
All the heroes of my youth keep dying. How can you love someone you never met, so much? Thank you forever, Sir Larry. Say hello to my parents please.
catlady
November 21st, 2011
1:12 pm
We loved him, and we will miss him. Good job, Larry. I’m guessing the Ugas will be waiting on you.
Thank you, Mark.
PDnDC
November 21st, 2011
1:12 pm
Great article, Mark. Larry Munson took the place of the need for televised games. He was the sportscaster’s sportscaster and truly the Voice of Bulldog football. As a Ga Tech AND UT alumnus, I’ll always remember Larry’s Bulldog broadcasts. Rest in Peace, Larry Munson.
how2fish
November 21st, 2011
1:13 pm
@Bama13 that was funny ! Thanks !
Robbie Cantrell
November 21st, 2011
1:15 pm
Sugar is now Falling from Heaven !!!!! Thank’s Larry … R.I.P.
DawginLex
November 21st, 2011
1:16 pm
war eagle and tenn vol=2 classless douchebags that need to go get a room for some pillow talks
Producer
November 21st, 2011
1:20 pm
As Reagan’s surgeon said on the day he was shot, “We’re all Republicans today, Mr. President.” On THIS day, we’re all Bulldogs!
The Grinch
November 21st, 2011
1:24 pm
DawginLex
November 21st, 2011
1:16 pm
What would on expect from “fans” of those schools based on this years results?
ccatlanta
November 21st, 2011
1:29 pm
“On purely technical terms, he wasn’t the paragon of play-by-play, either.”
I don’t think anyone has mentioned that Larry had a problem giving out the score. There was no just tuning in the game to see who was leading. For most games, Larry would only say the score when one team scored. Oh, you could figure out if Georgia was ahead or behind by listening to him talking, but often you would have no idea how close the game was until the next time someone scored. Then he’d reveal the actual score, if he remembered to. Sometimes he didn’t and you had to wait until the next score in hopes that he’d tell you the score then. You could go 20-30 minutes without him ever saying what the score was in the game. That, I figured, was my punishment, for not tuning in at the beginning of the game and listening to the entire thing…
He was one of a kind. RIP Larry Munson.
hillj
November 21st, 2011
1:37 pm
Always In our hearts! God bless munson.
rocklifter
November 21st, 2011
1:47 pm
I grew up listening to Larry call all the Georgia games. When they played on TV, we always turned the sound down and listened to Larry call the game. Today I wept for a man I have only met once but knew him as a member of our family.
James Adams
November 21st, 2011
1:50 pm
I think some of his Georgia Basketball and Atlanta Falcons calls were just as spectacular. I will never forget his call of the Hail Mary that beat San Francisco in ‘91. Munson was the reason I fell in love with Georgia basketball at age 13, listening to them go to Baton Rouge and beat a team with Shaquille O’ Neal and Chris Jackson. The whole time, hearing how, ‘this can’t be’. God Bless Larry Munson.
Coop
November 21st, 2011
2:08 pm
Great article, Mark, thanks. Hard to grieve for someone I didn’t know personally but the world sure feels a little lonelier today.
Ron
November 21st, 2011
2:15 pm
Wonderful article.
The nervous breakdown description gets very close to what it was like to listen to the man.
UGADawg
November 21st, 2011
2:27 pm
RIP He was a true legend to Georgia football!
Dr. Warren
November 21st, 2011
2:46 pm
That’s excellent writing about a man whose voice connected so many of us back to our youth.
South GA VU grad
November 21st, 2011
3:21 pm
One of the greatest. RIP
egeagle
November 21st, 2011
3:24 pm
Godbye to an old friend I only encountered twice. Passing with a quick nod after the Ga Southern- UGA game of 1990 and later at a signing in Douglasville.
Oldest memory- the ‘68 UGA-Tenn game heard in my Dad’s truck in a South Ga dove field.
Growing up in Bwk, listening to Larry and Al as I’d sit in a swing underneath a tree.
No season can really start without the first, “Get the picture” of the season.
A great memory was having Larry call our (Ga Southern) ‘85 semifinal game vs Northern Iowa. He got excited when Tracy scored the winning TD in that great victory.
The funn thing has been remembering where I was and what I was doing when each of these great calls were made.
I like the image of Erk and Larry enjoying a fine cigar in Heaven.;
Tech-ex
November 21st, 2011
3:59 pm
Munson,
You were the best.
country boy
November 21st, 2011
4:15 pm
Damn…. just plain ‘ol DAMN
Murphy
November 21st, 2011
4:36 pm
Im in shock that anyone from any team would post such trash as to be dis-respectfull to Larry Munson.Over many years I have seen the Dogs trashed on here as well as the Dawg coaches and us fans,but dont take it to such a level as to dis-respect Munson.This is totally out of line and un called for!!!!
Alabama Dog
November 21st, 2011
4:38 pm
I hate it Larry will not see the Dawgs play for the tilte on December 3rd. Go win it for Larry, Dawgs!!!!!!
lmh
November 21st, 2011
5:24 pm
…..halfway through the first quarter Podunk State was “acting as if she wants to score”
Mark, great tribute to the great Larry Munson in your wonderful column….!
In that one sentence above, my mind’s eye was able to relive the joy of a Munson broadcast and it made my heart soar…..!!!
Thank you for that…!
lmh