Get the Picture

“Get the picture, now,” In my version of the world, that phrase from that gravelly voice was how college football games were supposed to start. Despite winning a national championship in 1980 and playing in two consecutive Sugar Bowls in subsequent years, Georgia didn’t play on television much during my childhood. Instead, I saw the “red and black” through the eyes of a transplanted Yankee from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And for all but last three years of my life, Larry Munson was every bit as big of a part of the team as Hershel Walker, Vince Dooley, or Lindsay Scott.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of Saturday afternoons with my Dad. Fall in the south means football and hunting. I remember riding with my Dad on Saturday's, Munson's play-by-play the backdrop of so many afternoons. It would be almost twenty years before I got to attend a game in Sanford Stadium, but through Munson's eye's, I was at them all.

I met Larry Munson for the first time when I was in high school. He was the big-name speaker at my high school’s athletic banquet. And no, I wasn’t there to get a sports award. I was in the jazz band playing dinner music for the guests. But Munson was gritty and crass and told lots of ribald jokes. The pedestal I had placed him on grew even taller.

Twenty five years later, I met Munson again while hanging out in the Georgia press box with a broadcasting friend. We walked up to a group near the press buffet and someone turned to us and said in a gravelly voice, “Hi, how you doing.” My wife, another transplanted Yankee who had no idea what Munson looked like, said, “You’re Larry Munson.” Larry and I were both impressed.

Larry was a unique broadcaster. He was a homer. Those who weren’t Bulldogs disliked his lack of objectivity. The rest of us loved him for it. We felt his anguish and his exhilaration. Even though we don’t smoke, we wanted to light up a cigar with him when we finally found a way to beat Florida and Tennessee. For forty-two years, he were passionate and real.

Thanks for “run Lindsey Scott.” Thanks for the “sugar falling from the sky.” Thanks for the “hobnail boot.” Thanks Larry for a lifetime of memories.