Larry Munson

At 84, Larry Munson has been the vocal \"voice from above\", leading one generation after another to the Dawg Nation. I can recall with great clarity and wonderment why so many fans wore headsets as I sat as a youth in Sanford Stadium. However, those chill bumps were never more visible as I watched Kevin Butler launch one \"100,000 miles\" with Larry's voice echoing \"Oh My God, Oh My God!!!\"

I truly hope that the below pasted report is inaccurate and that we've not seen and HEARD the last of Munson. However, equally important is the realization that if not 2007 or 2008, the era of Larry's play-by-play will come to a close, probably sooner than many of us want.......

Munson not sure about calling 2007 season
By Josh Kendall - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ATHENS --The Voice of the Bulldogs is hurting.

Eighty-four-year-old Larry Munson wants to return this fall to work his 41st consecutive season of Georgia football, but he's not sure his body will allow it.

\"I don't know,\" Munson said in a telephone interview from his home Monday. \"I'm almost 50-50. I don't know what I'm going to do. I absolutely have plans to do it, but things are just getting worse and worse.\"

Munson, a prostate cancer survivor who also suffers from arthritis and back problems, is one of the SEC's legendary skeptics, so it's tough to know what year might finally be his last, and two of his closest colleagues doubt he has called his final game for the Bulldogs.

Loran Smith, the executive director of the Georgia Bulldog Club and Munson's sideline reporter, and Neil Williamson, the director of sports marketing for WSB Radio, which employees Munson, both expect him to return.

\"Like the good trouper he is, I think he'll be ready when kickoff comes,\" Smith said. \"I don't think he could imagine himself being anywhere but behind the microphone. I think he knows a lot of people are counting on him, and I don't think he'd want to disappoint the Georgia people in any way, shape or form.\"

Williamson and Munson have talked within the past three days, and the subject of retirement never came up, Williamson said.

\"All he was talking about was our travel schedule in 2008,\" Williamson said.

Munson, however, says he's not so sure. His pace has slowed noticeably in the press box in recent years and is nearing a total stop now, he said.

\"I can't run, and I can't walk,\" he said. \"I can't use my hands; I can't close my hands. It's just so stupid.\"

The new permanent 12-game regular season and increased number of night kickoffs make the season tougher on Munson, Smith said.

\"After all these years, I suspect that Larry's aches and pains are more intense now, and that probably causes him to fret a little bit more,\" Smith said. \"I suspect the reason he might be down, if he's down, is he is thinking about that bus ride after that Alabama (road) game and that plane ride home after the Tennessee game.\"

Georgia starts the 2007 season on Sept. 1 against Oklahoma State at Sanford Stadium, but Munson said he hasn't set a timetable for making a final decision about being in the booth this season.

\"I really can't answer that,\" he said. \"Give me a couple weeks and give me another crack at it.\"

The man who gave life to \"Run Lindsay, Run\" and \"hobnailed boot\" began his career as a Georgia radio commentator in 1966. He is a member of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was honored in 1993 by the Georgia General Assembly for \"his great role in the Georgia championship football program.\"

Georgia's second-floor trophy room in the Butts-Mehre Building is named after Munson.

Born in Minnesota on Sept. 28, 1922, Munson called games at Wyoming and Vanderbilt before coming to Georgia. He is an avid fisherman and moviegoer.

Whenever Munson steps aside, the contract between Georgia and WSB gives the university the right to pick Munson's selection although it is believed the two groups will work together to find a mutually acceptable choice.

\"Larry can announce as long as he wants,\" Williamson said, \"and Larry can quit whenever he wants.\"

TOO OLD???:

GO DAWGS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every year I fear it's Larry's last. The man is 85, folks. Eventually -- you know, in 20 or 30 years -- it will end. I just pray he is able to call the next Georgia national championship, which should come this year or next. Or both.

\"Who do we sue if we have a stroke?\" -- Larry Munson

I say we build a new stadium in his back yard so he does not have to go to the games. Some of my fondest childhood memories started with a Munson call.

Perfect idea kentdaddy. I believe it would fly, everyone just ante up a little, \"build it and we will come\".

or the cheaper idea is build larry a condo onto the top of the stadium. he can work in his pajamas.

There you go, that would be cheaper for sure.