Thanks for the Saturday afternoons, Larry
Larry Munson
We all knew it was coming. Last year he broadcast only home games – this year, he called Georgia’s first two games and sounded gassed by the 4th quarter in each. Larry Munson, the Voice of the Georgia Bulldogs, retired overnight. He will be 86 years on on Saturday.
Larry began calling the games on September 17, 1966 – it was a 20-17 road victory over Mississippi State. Vince Dooley was in his third season as coach, and Sanford Stadium held about 42,000 fans. Star Trek had debuted on NBC the week before. Larry had spent the past 20-years at Vanderbuilt, so moving to a competitive team was an exciting new experience for him.
By November 12th of that year, Georgia was 7-1 losing only to Miami by one point in the Orange Bowl. They went to Auburn ranked in the top ten and with a shot at their first SEC championship since Wally Butts was coach. Auburn made the first half as dreary as the rain that day – the Dogs were behind by 13-points.
In the third quarter, Fullback Brad Johnson scored Georgia’s first touchdown.
Munson calls Georgia’s first touchdown
In those days when only a few games were televised, Munson painted word pictures of the game. His detail and description were unmatched. One of his best vocal images came on Kirby Moore’s TD pass to Hardee King which put Georgia in the lead.
Munson calls Georgia’s second touchdown
Note there is no color announcer and no sideline reporter. Larry called the entire game by himself. Georgia’s other fullback, Ronnie “Bull” Jenkins, scored an insurance touchdown.
Munson calls Georgia’s third touchdown
Georgia went on to win the game and half of the SEC championship. Alabama was also unbeaten in SEC play. The Dogs beat SMU in the Cotton Bowl and finished 4th in the country.
Have a good retirement, Larry. You gave us 43-years of fun.
John,
Thanks for the memories and tribute to Larry Munson. Many, many years of enjoyment following the Dawgs and listening to Larry…
A couple of personal experiences you might find interesting:
When Munson first took over the microphone from Ed Thilenius, Georgia fans of my era (I was then a senior at UGA) were initially very concerned and disappointed. How could Life As We Knew It continue without Ed Thilenius? Who is this man Munson? We didn’t like him at first; he was too “negative,” always worrying, and he wasn’t Ed Thilenius. Needless to say, Larry Munson grew on us pretty quickly.
Hundreds of thousands of Georgia fans have followed the team during Larry Munson’s ‘tenure,’ but I wonder how many fans besides myself and my friend Sanders Carter were at the games, in person, for Larry Munson’s very first and also his last broadcast. Sanders and I drove from Athens to Jackson Mississippi in September 1966 for the first game Munson broadcast for Georgia (vs. Mississippi State, and many of their home games in that era were in Jackson, not Starkville). We were also in the stands (with our radios this time) for the last game of Larry Munson’s illustrious play-by-play career when we played Central Michigan in September 2008. Back in 1966, who could have known what the future held and the legend that Larry Munson would become?
~ A dedicated Georgia and Larry Munson Fan…
David Breedlove
“Any moment we can see someone in a tree. . . .”