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PAGE 10B
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016
A farewell to Verne
Living in a classic city,
a university town means
there is plenty of gown
to enrich and reward your
experience if you identify
with the arts and the cul
tural opportunities which
abound.
Seeing the Bulldogs
flourish between the
hedges is something
I find uplifting and
rewarding, but there
is also a motivation to
enjoy other options like
the presentation Sunday
after the Auburn game
by the Atlanta Sympho
ny Orchestra. Guess who
had a couple of extra
tickets? None other than
the affable CBS announc
er Verne Lundquist, he of
broadened horizons with
a disdain for provincial
hindrances!
Whatever your day job
is, you can find enlight
enment and compatibili
ty with the arts and cul
tural options that exist.
I remember a London
taxi driver, named Harry
Lewis, who took a South
ern provincial on a half
fare tour of the city so
he could show off his
city beyond the standard
venues — Buckingham
Palace, Westminster
Abbey and the Tower of
Big Ben.
Harry was a connois
seur of all things oper
atic. At a traffic stop, he
broke into a high tenor
rendition of a song from,
“A Midsummer Night’s
Dream.” I concluded he
should have a starring
role. Has a taxi driver
ever sung a few lines
from an opera to you
while he is driving you
about his city?
While Lundquist is an
admirer of those who
are bent on winning
athletic contests with a
performance that under
scores drama and stirring
moments, he also finds
time in his personal realm
time to toast Broadway,
the Opera and the cul
tural highlights that exist
wherever the road of an
extraordinary life takes
him. He never met a
museum he didn’t like.
Travel has brought many
of the world’s major ports
into his cultural sphere.
He and his elegant wife,
Nancy, especially dote
on the dining options
which include a concert
or musical performance.
Last weekend was
Verne’s last official visit
to Athens. He will call
the Tennessee-Missouri
game in Knoxville on Sat
urday. Thanksgiving Sat
urday with the playing of
the Iron Bowl (Alabama
versus Auburn), his days
as the television voice
of Southeastern Confer-
(.A
loran
smith
ence will have
ended. Verne’s
exodus (utvan-
dring if you
want to say it
in Swedish)
is a sad day
for those who
have gotten
to know and
appreciate not
only his good
work and his
ambassado
rial role with the CBS
network, but his making
friends for the network.
Making friends for the
network has never been
part of his job descrip
tion, but it has come nat
ural for him and Nancy
to enjoy the social scene
at the SEC venues and to
welcome fans into their
midst. They make people
feel good about CBS.
Athens is one of his
favorite stops, a place
where he has taken time
to meet with faculty and
students at the Grady
College of Journalism.
The Five and Ten is one
of his favorite restau
rants in the country and
he has long been smit
ten by the beauty of the
nation’s oldest chartered
state university. While he
knows when a restaurant
is top drawer, he has an
“old shoe” personality
which means if you serve
hamburger, he embraces
that as much as he would
roast sirloin.
His farewell to Ath
ens (not really in that
he is now making plans
to return next fall as a
spectator) allowed him to
call a game at one of his
favorite venues and the
layover the next day for
the performance of the
Atlanta Symphony.
Verne is of Scandina
vian extraction (“Actual
ly half Swedish and half
Norwegian which means
that I wake up every day
in conflict. I don’t know
whether to kill myself or
just get drunk.”) He has
become friends with two
of the stars of the Atlanta
Symphony - the brother,
sister act of David and
Julie Coucheron, whom
they often enjoy dinner
when the Lundquists are
in Atlanta.
Verne and Nancy were
excited and pleased
to visit Hugh Hodgson
Hall for the symphony,
finding the venue “just
terrific.” Verne was as
excited to see David wow
the audience with his
violin as Verne was to
call the Georgia-Auburn
game the day before. The
Lunquists have become
David’s and Julie’s adop
tive parents.
In Steamboat Springs,
which the Lundquists
call home, Verne
has become a
perennial mem
ber of the Board
of Directors of
the String Music
Festival. The
board has term
limits, but they
don’t apply to
Verne.
He is icon
oclastic with
regard to pro
vincialism in sport. He,
too, doesn’t understand
why you can throw a
touchdown pass to win
the Super Bowl and not
enjoy an evening at the
Opera.
This is a sad farewell
to Verne and Nancy
Lundquist — but we will
forever be grateful they
came our way.
Loran Smith is a sports
columnist for the Bar-
row News-Journal. He is
co-host of the University
of Georgia football radio
pre-game show.
Rollason continued from 9B
vs. Florida State and Louisville vs. Kentucky. Both Flor
ida and Louisville have two losses, but if crazy things
were to happen in the last week of the season (and the
Conference Championship games next week) who
knows, maybe a 2-loss team could make the playoff.
If that were the case, both Florida and Louisville will
be trying to make a statement against their biggest rivals
this weekend. But, other 2-loss teams who could still
have a shot are Pen State, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
Not to mention the fact that Washington is still in the
picture with only one loss. Oh, and the boys from West
ern Michigan are still undefeated although it is unlikely
they will be given a spot in the playoff.
All that being said, we have an exciting and extreme
ly compelling weekend of college football before us. So
make sure you eat a lot of food on Thursday, recuperate
on Friday, and setde in to watch a lot of college football
on Saturday.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School
graduate and University of West Georgia graduate. You
can email comments about this column to tyrollason@
yahoo.com.
FINAL SEASON
Longtime football commentator Verne Lundquist is retiring after this sea
son.
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