Driving Mr. Bisher: A car ride to Clemson that changed one life
Furman with Shoeless Joe Jackson in 1949. I wasn't around. (AJC photo)
November 24, 1984: I did something I hadn’t done before and would never do again. I drove Furman Bisher to a college football game.
Clemson was playing South Carolina — the Gamecocks were very good that year — and we had only one parking pass. So we met somewhere off West Paces Ferry and he seated himself in my Corolla and off we went.
It was two hours to Clemson, plus another 30 because we got stuck in game traffic. (Being relatively new at the ol’ AJC, I hadn’t yet mastered the David Davidson Back Way — get off at Fair Play and take back roads through Seneca.) And we hadn’t passed Roswell Road before Furman said something that made me start doing a bit of math.
For reasons unknown, I’d mentioned Sandy Koufax. Said Furman: “I met Sandy when he was a rookie in Dodgers camp.” I thought to myself: OK, Koufax was a rookie in 1955; I’d been born in 1955.
I was new at the AJC in 1984 — I’d started in March — but I’d worked at the Lexington Herald-Leader for six years. I was 28, and I’d been around a little. But with that one throwaway line about the great Koufax the great Furman Bisher reminded me (without meaning to remind me of anything, I should stress) that he’d been covering sports longer than I’d been on this Earth. So I did something that, to this day, strikes me as maybe the only smart thing I’ve ever done:
I shut up and listened.
He told me stories, named names, retraced the steps of a life that was already in its 67th year. I said just enough to fill in the spaces, and I learned more in those 2 1/2 hours than I did in every journalism class I’d ever taken. He was complimentary of my early efforts at paper, and he noted that he liked the one column a week I’d settled into doing for the Tuesday Journal — yes, we had two papers back in those olden days — as his backup. And then he said something that I would have written down had my hands not been on the wheel.
“I’m going to take a couple of weeks off soon. You should get a bunch of column ideas together and be ready.”
I did, and I was. I wrote a column every day for the Journal for two weeks, and I guess I managed not to mess up too much. Because after two weeks Van McKenzie, the man who’d hired me, started finding reasons to have me write more than the one Tuesday column. It sounds overly dramatic to say those two weeks changed my vocational life, but they kind of did.
We got to Clemson. We covered the game. South Carolina drove 86 yards to win by a point and finish its regular season 10-1. On the way back we mostly talked about what we’d seen and the Georgia-Georgia Tech game upcoming the next week. (Furman thought Tech had a great chance to win, and by Jove it did.) We got back, and I let him out. I doubt Furman ever thought about the ride again in his life. I remember it still.
He and I would talk many more times over many more years at many different venues, but that day in the car I felt as if I’d tapped into something deeper than the usual sportswriter workspeak. I’d been given a crash course in a Hall of Famer’s personal history. I drove home feeling both edified and awed. Furman could have just treated me like some clod giving him a ride, but he didn’t.
I don’t think I ever thanked him properly — in my lame defense, we were technically colleagues, and it’s bad form for one colleague to gush over another — but I should have. He made me feel as if I were a peer, when we both knew good and well I was nothing of the sort.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
177 comments Add your comment
MWT
March 19th, 2012
10:59 am
Mark, very nice tribute. I’m a native Atlantan and Furman’s death feels like an important tie to my past has been cut.
By the way, I proudly won an “I Beat Bisher” bumper sticker years ago. Sure wish I still had it – I’d put it on my car today.
Wreckmaniac
March 19th, 2012
10:59 am
Thanks, Mark. There are icons and semi-icons. Furman was a mega-icon. As a kid in Atlanta in the 50’s I learned from Mr Bisher what a newspaper could do, what sports was about, and received my introduction to my alma mater, GA TECH. Just as UGA fans loved Munson (we all did), I loved Furman as I always regarded him as Tech’s ambassador. His stories about Bobby Dodd were legendary. I’ll never forget an article about Dobb reuniting with Billy Teas, a former Tech player who was always in the doghouse. It made me cry. In those days it was the AJC, WSB and a few minutes of TV each week. Thats all we had but Furman and WSB forced us to use our imaginations for which I will be forever grateful.
Ted Striker
March 19th, 2012
10:59 am
Selah.
Don Adams
March 19th, 2012
11:00 am
I’m heart-broken.
He was the dean of his profession.
Rest in peace, Mr. Bisher.
DawgInaTruck
March 19th, 2012
11:01 am
Mark, I’m sure to Mr. Bisher you guys were peers. I’ve been reading you since those early days and read Furman Bisher’s stuff all my life. I always loved his Thanksgiving Day article about things he was thankful for. Not to be too gushy here but now I am thankful that we have in you a link to that past.
Capt Bob
March 19th, 2012
11:01 am
I had the priviledge of meeting Mr.Bisher as a teenager at the Atlanta Touchdown club. He wrote my father a nice letter about my appreance there…it was totally unnessary, but speaks of the fine man he was. He was a Hall of Fame writer and I will especially miss his annual Thanksgiving article. God bless his family…He is irreplaceable.
doc
March 19th, 2012
11:01 am
yes, kindred was one of the best, wish he had stuck around longer to become an icon as well. there were so many though it is hard to single them out. what a tv show it was on saturdays to talk college football with minter, outler and bisher all having their say. couldnt miss it. makes the nfl tv groups nothing but shill guys.
Mark Bradley
March 19th, 2012
11:02 am
Thanks very, DawgInaTruck. But the Bish is a Hall of Famer. I’m not even famous when I walk down my own hall.
Mark Bradley
March 19th, 2012
11:03 am
And Capt Bob makes a good point: Furman was legendary for answering mail. I tried to emulate that, too, but too often fell short.
George Stein
March 19th, 2012
11:04 am
That made me chuckle, Mark. If we’re fair, though, no one else is particularly good at making predictions, either. I can refer you to some wealthy individuals in Las Vegas for proof.
In all seriousness, many of us have been fortunate enough to have had someone else share some wisdom with us, and I think the proper way to repay those people is to do the same. You’re the elder statesman at the AJC and I hope you’ll groom a young writer to be as good as you.
Mark Bradley
March 19th, 2012
11:05 am
I’m sorry to say I never saw that fabled television show.
Someday I’ll tell y’all about my job interview with Mr. Jim Minter. (He was the AJC editor when I was hired.) Another highlight of my life, and I mean that sincerely.
Foxdog
March 19th, 2012
11:05 am
It’s almost like our grandfather died. The world lost a lot of talent and wisdom with Mr. Bishop’s death. His like will not be found again soon.
JDawg1785
March 19th, 2012
11:07 am
Great story, Mark! You’re doing just fine carrying the torch that Bisher lit so many years ago.
William Casey
March 19th, 2012
11:08 am
Mark, you have inspired me to see if I can find a collection of Furman Bisher’s work. I can remember oh so well reading his accounts of Georgia Tech football fifty years ago and relishing every word. Thanks for sharing this experience. I remember Mr. Bisher taking on Wally Butts and Bear Bryant in the early ’60’s. He may not have gotten that story right but he was FEARLESS as well as a talented writer. PS: Shoeless Joe DOES resemble Richard Russell in the pic.
Mike Murphy
March 19th, 2012
11:11 am
I grew up in Moreland close to Lewis Grizzard. In elementary school we would walk to my home from school for a peanut butter sandwich. Lewis would always get the Journal out of the paper box and read Furman Bisher’s column. Bisher was his idol. Lewis told me one day when we were about 12 that he would be the Atlanta Journal sports editor. He almost made it. He was executive sports editor after being out of college less than two years. Jim Minter tried to make it happen but the booze and wild women at Harrisons along with a bad move to Chicago got in the way.
Mike Murphy
George Stein
March 19th, 2012
11:13 am
Here’s the SI story by Bear Bryant, William. Interesting read.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/1/index.htm
hj
March 19th, 2012
11:16 am
Tech Men appreciated Mr. Bisher
bkk based
March 19th, 2012
11:16 am
I recall checking out the AJC from the internet while living in Asia, and noting a passing line that the Journal was closing (the only paper I got when I grew up and when I was on my own buying a subscription). I sent an email,asking why, and lo and behold Furman Bisher answered my email personally. We exchanged emails a few times, lamenting over the demise of the Journal.
I have never forgotten that kindness that provided an ethereal, yet oh so real connection to home for me. Thank you, Mr. Bisher, not so much for the iconic reporting for which you have been so justifiably lauded, but for the down home, grounded kindness you showed me (and Mark Bradley, and who knows how many others over the years).
Smyrna Jacket
March 19th, 2012
11:16 am
Mark: Thanks for sharing. Always tough to lose someone you admire. I, too, like so many others, grew up reading his articles, and loved them all. I had the great good pleasure of meeting Mr. Bisher through my dad (another KY guy – Mt. Sterling) way back when (they both loved the horses). Kept in touch with Mr. Bisher these last years through emails and with chats at Augusta. What a gentleman. Mr. Bisher never let me get away without asking me to remember him to my parents. I wish I had kept his emails.
Rickster
March 19th, 2012
11:17 am
Aside from the traditions and amazing golf, I looked forward to the Masters to watch Jim Huber on Masters TV and read Furman Bisher in the paper.
With both men gone, The Masters will be a lot less enjoyable this year.
Go Jackets
March 19th, 2012
11:17 am
great job, i was born in 55 also, grew up in ellijay, my dad took very hard earned money and got me a paper everyday, mr. bisher was my favorite read. He covered Dixie like the dew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bet, he and coach dodd, bobby jones and others got caught up yesterday. thanks
ElephantsNeverForget
March 19th, 2012
11:18 am
RIP, Mr. Bisher, but me, you’ll always be this guy: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/1/index.htm
Rickster
March 19th, 2012
11:20 am
But you know that Lewis Grizzard & Furman are doing a whole lot of catchin’ up.
DAVE
March 19th, 2012
11:20 am
Mark; thank you for saying what a lot of us wish we could. Mr. Bisher was a close family friend and one of the most generous people I have ever known. He had the knack for making sports live in a deeper, less superficial way. I trace my love of golf to the coverage he provided looking into the personalities of my heroes such as Palmer and Nicklaus…and Jones. The Masters will be a sadder place without him holding down his place in the media center.
1eyedJack
March 19th, 2012
11:22 am
As a kid in South Georgia I’d save my allowance (all 50 cents) to buy the Sunday Atlanta Journal/Constitution. I’d get lost in it. Not only the sports page, but the whole paper. Ya’ll had writers then, who could paint a picture. Now, ya’ll seem to be inundated with liberals and aside from the sports page, your rag ain’t worth 50 cents, even if you still sold it around here.
Selah.
abby normal
March 19th, 2012
11:22 am
Mark…very well written tribute to the great Furman Bisher. I’m sure many young sportswriters benefited from his counsel over the years.
Having grown up in Atlanta I had the pleasure of reading the columns of many first rate sportswriters like Bisher and Outlar and Ed Miles and Dave Kindred. I rate you and Jeff Schultz in that class. Keep up the good work, it’s appreciated.
doc
March 19th, 2012
11:22 am
mark i meant to say the tv show on sundays to review all the games from the day before. it was about the only way to find out how dietzel’s chinese bandits did down in baton rouge or mississippi played the night before as it was after the morning edition hit the streets. i couldnt wait to get home from church to sit back and take it all in hoping the roast didnt get ready too soon. i almost preferred it dry if it meant i didnt have to miss the show. those guys had such a good time on it and no pretense to it whatsoever. it was some of the most respected sportswriters respectfully sitting there chewing on what they loved so dear.
Larry
March 19th, 2012
11:26 am
Mark,
Perhaps someone at the AJC could bundle Mr. Bisher’s Thanksgiving Day columns into a link, pamphlet or website. For me, this defined the man more than his unsurpassed sports contributions.
He was a treasure and will be forever etched in my fondest sports reading memories.
Larry
Mark Bradley
March 19th, 2012
11:29 am
I know there are some collections of Furman’s work. I’ve got a couple.
Try Amazon.
BromoDawg
March 19th, 2012
11:29 am
With Ernie Johnson Sr., Larry Munson, Jim Huber and Furman Bisher all gone in one year, that’s a Mt. Rushmore of Atlanta Sportscasting. All class acts. All with a style all to their own. We all vicariously learned from the best. You were blessed to know them, Mark. Selah, Furman!
Bama Fan #2
March 19th, 2012
11:29 am
Mr Bisher was a good writer but he tried to destroy the BEST football
coach of all time Coach Paul Bryant. Bryant won 300.000 with his help
from Saturday Evening Post but Bear said it took 10 years off his life.
So if Mr Bisher makes it to heaven wonder want Bear Bryant would say
or do to Mr Bisher!!!!!!!!!!! RTR
GeorgiaDuck
March 19th, 2012
11:30 am
The one Furman Bisher moment I’ll share is seeing him at the old Atlanta Steeplechase course in Cumming. I introduced myself and shook his hand. I had been reading Furman and the late Jesse Outlar’s columns for years. The Steeplechase was held in March in those days and the weather was awful. The organizers moved it to April and it was the same weekend as The Masters. Furman stopped covering the Steeplechase.
Baby Ruth
March 19th, 2012
11:30 am
Had the opportunity to walk with Furman and my Dad around Augusta National at the Masters years ago. WHAT A PLEASURE! A gentleman and a great individual. An Icon in his business. You will be sorely missed Furman.
Mark Bradley
March 19th, 2012
11:31 am
Mention of the Steeplechase brings to mind a lowlight of my career. I had to write an advance about it my first month on the job. I said the event was on Sunday. It was on Saturday. I thought I’d get fired. Still don’t know why I didn’t.
Larry
March 19th, 2012
11:35 am
Mark,
Do you know Olin G. that works there?
carolinajacket
March 19th, 2012
11:37 am
I will miss this great man. I grew up reading his work, along with those of Jesse Outlar, Ed Danforth, Harry Mehre, and later Charley Roberts. They were all a lot of fun. Ironically, just yesterday I found an old article that Furman had written about Tubby Walton, in which he quoted my father. I will always have warm feelings for Furman.
Baltimore Jacket
March 19th, 2012
11:43 am
I enjoyed Furman’s columns, and I appreciated his historical perspective. But as a native Atlantan who has been in the diaspora for almost fifteen years, I keep connected to the Atlanta sport scene and zeitgeist through your columns, Mark. In my humble opinion, your columns have always been the most valuable, insightful, and enjoyable to read. I think that people often don’t undertstand how hard it is to write and produce at a high level on a consistent basis. This column, for example, is a thing of beauty. How many drafts did you go through to get the tone just right? Keep up the good work!
jeffrey d
March 19th, 2012
11:43 am
Thanks, Mark. Very well said.
Patty
March 19th, 2012
11:45 am
Well done, Mark. What a wonderful memory of a fine man.
SAL
March 19th, 2012
11:47 am
Sad, sasd dday…..
Tech Man
March 19th, 2012
11:48 am
I remember reading the many stories of the conversations he and Bobby Dodd had over the years. Those were great years. He will be missed.
Driver 8
March 19th, 2012
11:51 am
Sent Mr. Bisher a letter of anguish after the Jim Leyritz disaster in ‘96 and he quoted me in a print column-a real highlight and extremely generous on his part. Yes, I was venting, low-tech, even back in the day.
Mark, what exactly does Selah mean? I’ve seen various definitions but I’m sure you know exactly what he meant. Please share.
ex-pat Heel
March 19th, 2012
11:51 am
Mark, could you work with his family/estate and see if you could publish a book devoted to Furman stories and re-prints of his editorials? His Thanksgiving editorials were a fav of mine. Bunches of great articles about the Masters; basically any time he put a finger on a keyboard, it produced a collector’s item. I’d pay big bucks for a Bisher collection.
btw…he was a Tar Heel.
NeoDawg
March 19th, 2012
11:51 am
Furman Bisher, Larry Munson and Lewis Grizzard – what would you give to be the fourth in anything those three did (or are about to do) together?
Merlyn Brown
March 19th, 2012
11:55 am
Furman Bisher and Coach Bobby Dodd always did a narrative of game film during the week after each football game when I was a student @ GT in 1956. When the Internet came along, I began
reading the AJC online. Before then I (sometimes) would subscribed to the Sunday edition of the AJC and would receive it during the week in places like Minnesota, Kansas & Houston, TX(where I live now). Today, I read the sports and some front page stuff almost daily. Every time Furman Bisher wrote anything, I was eager to read it. So, he was a part of my life. Mark, now we are stuck with
you–which isn’t all bad. You learned from one of the best. My thanks to you & the AJC.
Driver 8
March 19th, 2012
11:57 am
Seem to recall a story about your interview at the AJC. Didn’t Mr. Minter ask you to name the starting QBs in the SEC and you could. The clincher though was you offered insight into why UGA lost to Auburn. Don’t recall the reason but it was something other than Bo Jackson. I still remember Miles Smith being dragged down the field hanging on to one of Jacksons ankles.
Funny Bunny
March 19th, 2012
12:01 pm
I wonder if Wally Butts thought he was a Saint ?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/1/index.htm
Grayson Scott
March 19th, 2012
12:06 pm
RIP Furman. I would put Furman on the Mt. Rushmore of Sportswriters with Jim Murray, Dan Jenkins and Rick Reilly. Thanks for your words Furman, they were much appreciated by this sports fan.
Say what Bradley, SC was very good in 84?
March 19th, 2012
12:09 pm
In 1984, SC was 10-1 before losing to OKSU in the bowl. On further review however, USC strength of schedule was 49th out of 110 schools. OKSU schedule was 71.
Already starting with your slant on reality.
Say what Bradley, SC was very good in 84?
March 19th, 2012
12:11 pm
I forget the best part. 10-2 and FINISHED OUT OF THE TOP 10 FINAL POLL. Why? The strength of schedule was a joke.