From Herschel to a Hob-nailed Boot: The Life and Times of Larry Munson

by Larry Munson, Tony Barnhart

The University of Georgia has been playing football since 1892, and in that time a host of great players and coaches have inspired the passions of its ultra-loyal fans. But in all that time there has only been one Voice of Georgia football. And for 43 years, that voice touched the Bulldog Nation down to its very soul.

It was the voice of the incomparable Larry Munson.

Munson was a solid, competent broadcaster when he became the radio persona of the Bulldogs in 1966. In the early years Georgia fans didn t think the Minneapolis native was anything special. But it wasn t long before Munson achieved legendary status and earned the undying loyalty of the Georgia people with a series of classic calls that several generations of the Bulldog faithful can still recite by

Run Lindsay!
Hunker down, you guys!
Look at the sugar falling out of the sky!
We just stepped on their face with a hobnail boot and broke their nose!
Appleby to Washington! 80 yards!
My God! A freshman!

Say any of those phrases to a Georgia fan, and he can tell you where he was and what he was doing at the precise moment when Munson screamed those immortal words. Munson s calls are that ingrained into the culture of the South.

After 43 seasons and almost 500 games as the heartbeat of Georgia football, Larry Munson retired on Septemeber 22, 2008. Now he is ready to tell the incredible story of his life, which began in the lakes and the hunting fields of Minnesota and eventually took him to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.

In From Herschel to a Hobnail Boot, Munson holds nothing back and gives the inside story of the love affair between a broadcaster and his loyal followers. It is a must-read for Georgia fan and college football fans of every persuasion.

Genres: Sports

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Shawn Balcomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a UGA football fan, I loved the content of this book as well as the subject. While I became a Dawg faithful after Munson finished his tenure, I appreciated reading some of his tales about great moments between the hedges and elsewhere around the SEC. The chapter detailing his top ten calls was by far the strongest, mainly because it had essentially no notes that broke up the flow of the narrative and made reading it feel choppy and uneven. I feel pretty strongly that the format and composition of the writing with technical notes inserted after what seem to be direct quotes don’t serve the story telling well or do Munson the justice he deserves.

[Tim Chavel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It brought back some many memories of the great UGA teams. Larry had a way to paint a picture of each and every play. I always listen to him even when I was at the game live. There are several areas I wish Tony Barnhart and larry Munson would have dealt with with more detail. One area I would like to know a lot more about would be his family. What vocations are his children involved? How did he meet his two ex wives? I would like to heard a lot more on his time with the Braves and the Falcons. The details about those two pro teams were enjoying reading but I desired to hear more stories. I hope someone in the future will write a more detailed account of Larry's life.

[Stephen Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good background on Munson and UGA