One-of-a-Kind Larry Munson: We Lost a Unique Talent Last Night

Any University of Georgia football fan since the late ‘60s knows Larry Munson. His gravel-voiced style of calling Bulldog football games on the radio was passionate and partisan. From the moment he took the job in 1966, Munson referred to the teams as “us” and “them.”

Bulldog fans can hear his call of the Auburn game in 1982: “Hunker down, you guys! If you didn’t hear me, you guys, hunker down! I know I’m asking a lot, you guys, but hunker it down one more time!” Play-by-play like that earned him the endearment of UGA football fans all the way through his final broadcast in 2008.

I first crossed paths with Larry early in my career at WRFC Athens, then the flagship station of UGA sports. He referred to my crowd jokingly as “you and your hippie friends.” By the mid 1980s, he did daily sports commentaries for the radio network I managed.

In person, Larry spoke in play-by-playisms… short, staccato sentences that oozed storytelling. “Ahh, Richard, I tell you it was COLD this morning. I got out of bed, made my way to the kitchen and it was all I could DO to keep from freezing.”

He loved to tell dirty stories (sorry all you politically-correct Bulldog fans) and was always baffled by sports money. He couldn’t understand how an athlete could possibly be worth a multi-million dollar contract. Sky-high rights fees commanded by sports teams were equally perplexing. That attitude about compensation spilled over into his career.

A radio station in a large Georgia city called me one day, asking if I would help get Larry to record commercials for a local car dealer. You know the kind…“Hi, this is Larry Munson…” I said I would. Larry, of course, was happy to help because the radio station carried UGA sports.

He asked me, “How much do you think I should get for doing the spot? Fifty bucks?”

Now, Larry could have gotten use of a car as compensation, but he was much too uncomfortable to ask for that much. The station got its Larry Munson commercials, and Larry got his $50.

Where Athletic Director Vince Dooley had the polished and well-connected Loran Smith doing such bidding for him, Larry had only himself. He wasn’t interested in hiring an agent and always had the best interests of the Bulldogs at heart.

So much so that when I asked him to record something for my telephone answering machine (“My God, do you realize Richard and Lenka aren’t here? Leave a message when you hear that tone thing!”), it never occurred to me that I should pay him.

I should have. As the old saying goes, “Don’t be sad it’s over. Be happy it happened.”

I’m happy we had Larry and that I had the experience of knowing him.