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SPORTS
The Red & Black | Wednesday, August 16, 2006 | 9B
Fans celebrate Munson’s career
SPECIAL | The Red & Black
A Georgia commentator Larry Munson poses in Sanford
Stadium. Munson recently celebrated 40 years at Georgia.
By CHARLES ODUM
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Larry Munson
joined the Georgia football
family in the debut season of
Uga II. Now, with Uga VI in
his eighth season as
Georgia’s mascot, the school
is celebrating Munson’s 40
years as the voice of the
Bulldogs — a long time by
any measure of dog years.
That only tells part of
Munson’s longevity. Including
the time he spent at
Vanderbilt, he is approaching
60 seasons of radio play-call
ing in the Southeastern
Conference, a most unexpect
ed development for someone
raised in a Big 10 home in
Minnesota.
“I never thought it would
last as long as it has lasted,”
said the 83-year-old Munson,
who was the voice of
Vanderbilt football from 1947
until he was hired by Georgia
in 1966.
Atlanta’s WSB Radio,
which airs Bulldogs games,
scheduled a roast for
Saturday night to celebrate
Munson’s 40 years at Georgia.
The event quickly sold out.
Munson has no plans to
step away from the micro
phone, though he concedes
“My thoughts turn to fishing
about this time of year.”
He will complain about the
rigors of travel, a grind made
more painful by an aching
back and new problems with
blood clots in his legs.
But stop being the voice of
the Bulldogs? Why would he?
“Football gets to you,” he
said. “It’s the one sport every
year, no matter whether
you’re in the pros or college
or if you’re lucky enough to be
in both, the night before the
game in football season, it’s a
very big thing and you don’t
find it that way in basketball
or baseball. There’s just
something about football.”
Munson’s longtime side
line commentator, Loren
Smith, doesn’t think his
friend will ever willingly leave
the booth.
“He might say ‘another
year or so’ but I don’t think
he means it because he truly
is a natural radio man. He has
a gift for radio. He’s been in it
all his life. Why would he give
it up as long as it’s not physi
cally debilitating, and I don’t
see that it is. I could see him
lasting on and on, indefinitely,
and I hope that is the case.”
Smith, who remembers
the last transition from the
popular Ed Thilenius to
Munson, says he doesn’t want
to be around for what he pre
dicts will be a wild scramble
to replace Munson, whenever
he retires.
Georgia fans love Munson
because of his unique color
and mostly because he is so
openly a fan.
“Oh, look at the Sugar
falling out of the sky,” he
cheered as Georgia beat
Auburn in 1982 to win its last
of three straight SEC titles
and Sugar Bowl berths in the
era of Heisman Trophy-win
ner Herschel Walker.
And, when Georgia ended
its 20-year SEC champi
onship drought with a last-
minute win at Auburn in
2002: “Man, we’ve had some
shots haven’t we? Snap to
David Greene, there he goes
in the corner again and we
jump up ... Touchdown! Oh
God, a touchdown!”
For Munson, the Bulldogs
are “we.” He’s not the only
college announcer to openly
cheer, but his passionate
style is unique.
Buck Belue’s famous 92-
yard pass to Lindsay Scott to
beat Florida in Jacksonville
in 1980 is the most memo
rable pass in Bulldogs history,
and Munson was in top form
with his plea to “Run,
Lindsay!”
Just as Georgia fans from
Calhoun to Kingsland were
reacting to the improbable
touchdown with some form of
physical response — a leap, a
shout or a hug — Munson
provided vivid on-air testimo
ny that he was cheering right
with them:
“I broke my chair. I came
right through a chair. A metal
steel chair with about a five-
inch cushion. I broke it. The
booth came apart. The stadi
um, well, the stadium fell
down. Now they do have to
renovate this place. They’ll
have to rebuild it now.... Man,
is there going to be some
property destroyed tonight!”
In a poll at on his fan
Web site,
http://www.LarryMunson.co
m, his description of the
Belue-to-Scott pass is his
fans’ top pick for the best
Munson call of all time. It
probably also ranks as the
most-imitated Munson call.
Another fan favorite, the
Greene touchdown pass for
the last-minute win at Auburn
in 2002, is no favorite for
Munson. Instead, that call,
and his inability to identify
Michael Johnson as the receiv
er, provides a painful reminder
of his pet peeve — radio
booths being moved from
prime midfield spots toward
the corners of many stadiums.
“We were at the complete
opposite end of the field on
the other side of the field
down on the other 10-yard
line,” Munson said of the 2002
game at Auburn.
“They threw that ball in
the end zone on the other
end. We had four men with
field glasses looking at that
play, and I don’t know how
long it took us to get that
straightened out. The
moment he caught the ball he
turned to face us and caught
the ball against his chest and
held it there and that blocked
the number ... and it’s all
because they have moved you
so far away. It’s getting
tougher and tougher.”
Many of Munson’s peers
have died in recent years —
Kentucky’s Cawood Ledford,
Clemson’s Jim Phillips and,
most recently in an automo
bile accident, Arkansas
broadcaster Paul Eells. It
makes Munson worry.
“We’ve got guys dropping,”
he said. “I’ve had a whole
bunch of blood clot attacks.
I’ve had 11 of them. They’ve
been running down into my
feet and turning my toes
white. It’s scary. You’re on all
sorts of medication and
things like that. You can’t
help but think about it.”
Bulldogs nominated for Hall of Fame
By SAM STEINBERG
ssteinber@randb.com
The Georgia Sports Hall of
Fame (GSHF) in Macon nom
inated 11 current and former
Bulldog sports figures last
week to its final list of 65 can
didates under consideration
for induction in 2007.
The GSHF Screening
Committee will convene in
Macon on Sept. 11 to decide
the class and announce its
decision on Sept. 25.
Candidates for induction
include current Georgia
coaches Suzanne Yoculan
(gymnastics), Andy Landers
(women’s basketball) and
Manuel Diaz (men’s tennis).
Yoculan has seven NCAA
team titles to her credit,
which is the most for any
head coach in school history.
Her Gym Dawgs are currently
two-time defending national
champions.
In addition, Yoculan is a
four-time National Coach of
the Year, has won 15 SEC
titles and coached 52 all-
Americans since taking over
at Georgia in 1983.
Landers is the only coach
in Lady Dogs history since the
team’s inception in 1979. A
four-time National Coach of
the Year, Landers has made
the Lady Dogs an annual top
25 team and has taken his
team to 23 NCAA tourna
ments.
Despite his recent success
es in leading the men’s tennis
program, Diaz is up for con
sideration as a player. Diaz
played at Georgia under leg
endary coach Dan Magill, was
a two-time all-American and
is the winningest singles play
er in University history with a
career singles record of 85-7
(.924 pet.).
With two national champi
onships under his belt as a
coach, Diaz mav earn another
nomination as a coach next
year. GSHF rules require a
coach to be at the helm for 20
seasons, a mark Diaz is one
year shy of.
Rounding out the list of
Georgia nominees are Ben
Zambiasi (football 74-77’),
Guy McIntyre (football 79-
83), Hope Spivey (gymnastics
90-94’), Hugh Durham (men’s
basketball coach (79-95’) ,
Lisa Spain-Short (women’s
tennis 81-84’), Herb St. John
(football 44-47’), Terri Moody -
Hancock (women’s golf 81-
84’) and Glenn Davis (base-
ball 80’).
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Cape Cod League
honors reliever
SOUTH YARMOUTH,
Mass. — University All-
American closer Joshua
Fields capped off his sum
mer with a Cape Cod
League Championship
Sunday as the
Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox
captured the crown here in
front of an estimated crowd
of 8,000.
Fields, who was named
the Cape Cod League Relief
Pitcher of the Year, led the
league in saves with 13
for the Red Sox.
Fields appeared in 16
games with 27 strikeouts
and allowed only five
walks in 17.2 innings during
the regular season.
Fields combined with
Alabama closer David
Robertson to form the
league’s best one-two punch
out of the bullpen as the
Red Sox went 32-18.
Robertson began the sea
son as the closer for the Red
Sox until Fields arrived
following Georgia’s College
World Series appearance.
Fields was one of five
Bulldogs pitching in the
Cape Cod League this sum
mer. walks and one save in
19.2 innings.
Gymnastics meet
schedule released
ATHENS — Georgia gym-
SPORTS NOTEBOOK
nasties coach Suzanne
Yoculan announced Friday
the completion of her team’s
2007 schedule,
which includes three
Saturday afternoon meets in
Stegeman Coliseum.
The two-time defending
NCAA champion Gym Dogs
will host half of their home
schedule on Saturdays at
4 p.m. with contests against
Stanford (Jan. 6), Florida
(Jan. 27), and Alabama
(Feb. 10).
Stanford opens Georgia’s
season on Jan. 6, followed by
meets at Kentucky (Jan.
13), Arkansas (Jan. 19), and
North Carolina State (Jan.
21).
A meet at LSU on Feb. 2
is sandwiched between the
home contests with Florida
and Alabama.
Utah, last year’s runner-
up to the Gym Dogs at the
NCAA Championships,
comes to Athens on Feb. 16
and Auburn will be in
Stegeman Coliseum on Feb.
23.
Georgia’s final two regu
lar-season meets include
UCLA in Los Angeles on
March 4 and Michigan in
Athens on March 9.
— Georgia Sports
Communication
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