Larry Munson

Infobox Person
name=Larry Munson

---

caption= Larry Munson
occupation= Sportscaster
birth_date=birth date and age|1922|9|28|mf=y
birth_place= Minneapolis, Minnesota
death_date=
death_place=

Lawrence Harry "Larry" Munson (born September 28, 1922) is a retired sports announcer and talk-show host based out of Atlanta. He is best known for his time handling radio play-by-play of the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team from 1966 to 2008. He also handled the play-by-play for the Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts and has also hosted sports-related talk shows in the past.

Early life and career

Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Munson attended Roosevelt High in Minneapolis and Moorhead State Teachers College in Moorhead, Minnesota. While at Moorhead State, he played basketball as a center and guard and football as an end and tackle.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/062207/sports_20070622028.shtml |last=Magill |first=Dan |authorlink=Dan Magill |title=Hunker down Munson |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=June 21, 2007 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16]

Munson served as an United States Army medic in an Army Hospital during World War II. Upon leaving the military, he spent all $200 of his mustering out pay to enroll in a Minneapolis radio broadcasting school.cite book |last=Hix |first=Tim |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History |work=Stadium Stories |origyear=2006 |publisher=Morris Book Publishing |isbn=0-7627-4021-3 |chapter=The Legendary Voice |pages=p.154] His first job was at a Minneapolis arena announcing the names of boxers and wrestlers for $15 a week.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/101406/football_20061014011.shtml |last=Smith|first=Loran |title=Enjoy listening to Larry|work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=October 14, 2006 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16]

After an on-air job at the KDLR AM radio station in Devils Lake, North Dakota, Munson moved on to AM radio station KFBC in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as a sports reporter in 1946. At KFBC, Munson met and became friends with co-worker Curt Gowdy.cite book|last=Hix |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History | year=2006| pages=p.155] At that time, Gowdy was also the football announcer for the Wyoming Cowboys. Later in 1946, Gowdy took a job in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the announcer for a minor league baseball team and successfully recommended Munson as his replacement for the Wyoming Cowboys job. When Gowdy became a New York Yankees announcer in 1948, he recommended Munson again to replace him in Oklahoma City.

Munson broadcast in Oklahoma until 1952 when he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, for an announcing job with the Nashville Vols minor league baseball team on AM radio station WKDA.cite web | first=Hudson | last=Alexander |url=http://www.aroundtheblock.us/wkda.html |title=Remembering Nashville Radio: The Good Old Days At WKDA|accessdate=2008-03-18] During the baseball off-season, Munson convinced local Nashville radio station WSM (AM) to broadcast Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball games with himself as the announcer. The basketball broadcasts were immediately successful, and WSM added Vanderbilt Commodores football games to its schedule as well with Munson as the broadcaster.cite book|last=Hix |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History | year=2006| pages=p.157] Munson also created a television show about hunting and fishing called "The Rod & Gun Club" on a local Nashville station.cite book|last=Hix |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History | year=2006| pages=p.158]

In 1966, the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team hired Munson as part of its initial broadcast team in the franchise's new city. In March of 1966, Munson was in West Palm Beach, Florida, for the Braves' spring training and read in the "Atlanta Journal" that Georgia Bulldogs football radio announcer Ed Thilenius was resigning to become a broadcaster for the Atlanta Falcons National Football League franchise. The next day, Munson called then-Georgia athletics director Joel Eaves to express his interest in the Georgia Bulldogs job, and Munson was hired by Eaves shortly thereafter. After announcing Braves games for the first two months of the baseball season, Munson returned to Nashville in June of 1966 to continue "The Rod & Gun Club" and prepare for his new role with the Georgia Bulldogs. For many years after joining the University of Georgia broadcasts, Munson would make the commute to Athens, Georgia, for the weekend football games from his home in Nashville so that he could continue producing "The Rod & Gun Club" during the week. Munson continued to live in Nashville until 1978 when he moved to metro Atlanta, Georgia, after joining the Georgia Radio Network as a reporter.cite book|last=Hix |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History | year=2006| pages=p.159] cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/101504/dog_20041016010.shtml |last=Smith|first=Loran |title=Munson a constant at games |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=October 15, 2004 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16] Munson eventually moved to Athens in 1997.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/031904/uga_20040319064.shtml |last=Weiszer|first=Marc |title=Legendary broadcaster not shy about sharing his love of film |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=March 19, 2004 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16] On September 22, 2008, Larry announced his retirement from being the play-by-play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. cite web |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3603144 |title=Munson, legendary radio voice for Georgia, retires suddenly |accessdate=2008-09-26 |date= September 23, 2008 |work=ESPN.com news services |publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures]

Awards and recognition

Munson has received numerous awards honoring his accomplishments. In 2003, he received the Chris Schenkel Award presented by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/080703/dog_20030807048.shtml |title=Munson wins Schenkel Award |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=August 7, 2003 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16] Munson was inducted into the Georgia-Florida Hall of Fame in 2004cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/103004/dog_20041030013.shtml |last=Smits|first=Garry |title=Munson speaks of retirement at induction ceremony |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=October 30, 2004 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16] and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092804/dog_hof.shtml |last=Smits|first=Garry |title=Former Bulldogs selected for Hall |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=September 28, 2004 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16] The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association has awarded Munson its state-based Sportscaster of the Year Award on multiple occasions: 1960 (WSM, Nashville), 1963 (WSM), 1964 (WSM), 1965 (WSM) and 1969 (WSTX, Nashville) as the Tennessee Sportscaster of the year;cite web |url=http://www.nssahalloffame.com/68/index.aspx |title=NSAA Hall of Fame Past Winners: Tennessee - Texas - Utah - Vermont - Virginia | accessdate=2008-03-17 |publisher=National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association] 1967 (WSB, Atlanta), 1971 (WFRC, Athens), 1982 (Georgia Network, Atlanta), 2002 (WSB) as the Georgia Sportscaster of the year. In 2007, Munson was presented with an honorary varsity letter from the University of Georgia for his contributions to Bulldog football. cite web |url=http://www.nssahalloffame.com/59/index.aspx |title=NSAA Hall of Fame Past Winners: Florida - Georgia | accessdate=2008-03-17 |publisher=National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association]

Voice of the Bulldogs

Approaching his 85th birthday in 2007, Munson was in failing health and planned to call only UGA home games during the 2007 season. Nonetheless, he announced the Georgia-Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta while Scott Howard was calling the Georgia vs. Wisconsin basketball game in Madison, Wisconsin. Prior to the 2007 season, Munson had missed only one game as the Georgia Bulldogs announcer, a 34-3 loss to Clemson on October 6, 1990. Munson was recuperating from back surgery and Dave O'Brien substituted.cite web |first=Mark |last= Schlabach |publisher=ESPN Internet Ventures |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3029287 |title=Georgia football won't sound the same without Munson |accessdate=2008-03-16 |date=September 21, 2007 ]

In the spring of 2008, Munson suffered a subdural hematoma and required emergency surgery. After undergoing rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, his family announced that he would be returning to call the home games in the fall of 2008.

Munson's gravelly voice is one of the most distinctive in all of U.S. sports announcing and is regarded as endearing by Georgia Bulldog fans. Like many of his peers, most of whom he has outlived, Munson's style is to avoid any pretense of journalistic objectivity or accuracy during his broadcasts. He is an unabashed Bulldogs fan, but because he generally espouses a dour or pessimistic view about his team, his broadcasts are considered amongst the modern generation of sportscasters as not only acceptable, but sometimes even more authentic than contemporary sportscasting. His unique turns of phrase – which are virtually always made off hand – are a part of most Bulldogs fans' vernacular.cite web |url= http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/063007/opinion_20070630013.shtml |last=Price |first=Benjamin |title=The 'cigar game' was Munson at his finest |work=Athens Banner-Herald |date=June 30, 2007 |publisher=Morris Communications |accessdate=2008-03-16]

On September 22, 2008, Munson and his family announced that he would be retiring from the booth effective immediately. The road crew of Scott Howard and Eric Zeier will finish out the season calling home and away games on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network.

Famous Calls

Some of Munson's well known calls include:
* "Buck back. Third down on the 8. In trouble. Got a block behind him. Going to throw on the run. Complete to the 25, to the 30. Lindsay Scott 35, 40. Lindsay Scott 45, 50, 45, 40. Run Lindsay! Twenty-five, 20, 15, 10, 5. Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Well, I don't believe it. 92 yards and Lindsay really got in a footrace, I broke my chair, I came right through a chair, a metal STEEL chair...Do you know what is gonna happen here tonight? And up at St. Simons, Jekyll Island, and all those places, where all those Dawg people have got those condominiums for four days...MAN, is there gonna be some property destroyed tonight!" - calling wide receiver Lindsay Scott's 92-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Buck Belue against Florida in 1980
* "Hunker down, you guys! If you didn't hear me, you guys, hunker down!...I know I'm asking a lot, you guys, but hunker it down one more time!" - in a defensive series late in the game against Auburn in 1982, which clinched the SEC title for Georgia
*"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 and is just driving and running with those big thighs. My God, a freshman!" - calling Herschel Walker's first touchdown run against the Tennessee Volunteers in 1980.
* "Look at the sugar falling out of the sky!" - at the end of the Auburn game in 1982.
* "So we'll try to kick one a hundred thousand miles. We're holding it on our own 49-and-a-half ... gonna try to kick it sixty yards plus a foot-and-a-half ... and Butler kicked a long one ... a long one ... Oh my God! Oh my God! ... The stadium is worse than bonkers! I can't believe what he did! This is ungodly!" - calling Kevin Butler's field goal in the final seconds to win over Clemson in 1984.
* "We just stepped on their face with a hob-nailed boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their face!" - calling Georgia's last-second win over Tennessee in 2001
* "Man, we've had some shots, haven't we? Snap to David Greene, there he goes again in the corner and we jump up....Touchdown! Oh, God, a touchdown! With 85 seconds..." - calling David Greene's touchdown pass to Michael Johnson as Georgia defeated Auburn in 2002, clinching the Bulldogs' first-ever SEC Eastern Division championship
* "Who do we sue if we have a stroke?" - asked of co-commentator Scott Howard after Matthew Stafford's game-winning drive and touchdown pass to Mohammed Massaquoi against Georgia Tech in 2006
* "Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown, my God, a touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Massaqoui!" - Matthew Stafford's game-winning touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi against Georgia Tech in 2006

Notes

References

*cite book |editor=Tony Barhart, Ed. |title=What it means to be a Bulldog: Vince Dooley, Mark Richt, and Georgia's greatest players |origyear=2004 |publisher=Triumph Books|location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=1-57243-645-X|pages=pp.356-359 |chapter=Honorable Mention
*cite book |last=Hix |first=Tim |title=Georgia Bulldogs: Great Moments in Team History |work=Stadium Stories |origyear=2006 |publisher=Morris Book Publishing |isbn=0-7627-4021-3 |chapter=The Legendary Voice

Related pages

*Georgia Bulldogs

External links

* [http://www.larrymunson.com A Larry Munson fan tribute site]
* [http://www.gshf.org Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]

Persondata
NAME=Munson, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Munson, Lawrence Harry
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American sports announcer
DATE OF BIRTH=September 28, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH=Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=