Larry Munson's calls to remember

Sports

Larry Munson, the legendary voice of University of Georgia football has announced his retirement, effective immediately.

Larry Munson, the radio voice of University Georgia football for more than 40 years, was one of the most beloved figures of "Bulldog Nation" because of his famous calls of some of the school's most memorable games.

He arrived in Atlanta in 1966 as part of the relocated Braves radio team, but he soon headed to Athens to call UGA games after Ed Thelinius left to join the Atlanta Falcons. "I had no idea then that he would become a legend," said UGA sports publicist and historian Dan Magill.

Munson's call of the end of the 1975 Georgia-Florida game on an 80-yard fleaficker touchdown play was was richly loaded with the kind of phrasing and descriptiveness that fans would savor over the years. "Appleby! The end around! Just stopped, planted his feet, and threw it! And Washington caught it! Thinking of Montreal and the Olympics, and ran out of his shoes down the middle . . . Gator Bowl rocking! Stunned! The girders are bending!"

In 1980, Herschel Walker, playing in his first college game, set the tone for a magical season by the Bulldogs, punctuated by another famous call in a UGA win at Tennessee. "My God Almighty, he ran right through two men! Herschel ran right over two men! He drove over those orange shirts and is just driving and running with those big thighs! My God, a freshman!"

But perhaps Munson's most famous call was later in that year, when the Bulldogs again pulled out an improbable win over Florida, on a 92-yard pass play between Buck Belue and Lindsay Scott. "Run Lindsay! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!" After a few moments, Munson might have incited already-delirious UGA fans in what would become a national championship season.

In the 2001 season, that passion flowed over famously again when the Bulldogs' Verron Hayes caught the game-winning touchdown pass at Tennessee with 10 seconds to play. "Touchdown, my God, a touchdown! My God Almighty, did you see what we did? . . . We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose! We just crushed their face!"

In the 2007 season, declining health forced Munson out of the booth for the first time in four decades, as he called only UGA home games, with the exception of the game at Georgia Tech. He also missed his first Georgia-Florida game in 41 years.

"If you ask the average Georgia fan who best represents the spirit of Georgia football, it wouldn't be a player or coach," former Bulldogs quarterback and coach Ray Goff said. "It would be Larry Munson."

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Larry Munson, the radio voice of University Georgia football for more than 40 years, was one of the most beloved figures of "Bulldog Nation" because of his famous calls of some of the school's most memorable games.

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