On the recordDecember 1, 2011
I appreciate the opportunity to share a few moments with Senator Chambliss on the floor of the Senate to pay tribute to a great Georgian, Larry Munson. Larry Munson was born in Minneapolis, and after the service he got a scholarship at a broadcasting school, and he got a job at the University of Wyoming. He worked his way to Tennessee, where he announced for the Vanderbilt basketball and football programs. Then, when the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta, he was brought in to be one of the announcers for Atlanta Braves baseball. Shortly after that, the voice of the Georgia Bulldogs retired and went to another job, and Larry Munson was asked to take over broadcasting at the University of Georgia. He was a Yankee, an outsider, not one whom many people thought much of when he started. Well, he became a legend in his time. He is a revered person in our State. It is said that Southeastern Conference football is not a game, it is a religion. In that analogy, if it is a religion in the Southeastern Conference, Larry was the high priest. He was the man whom everybody looked to to make the call nobody else could. The greatest tribute I ever saw to Larry Munson was on SEC football on an afternoon, at 3:30, when, a couple of years ago, before he retired, the announcer for CBS television brought in Larry Munson's radio play by play and set themselves aside because he was that good. He brought the game to life. He brought a spirit to the game you just could not find.…
