Larry Munson Lawrence Harry " Larry " Munson ( September 28 , 1922 – November 20 , 2011 ) was a sports announcer and talk - show host based out of the U . S . city of Atlanta . He was best known for handling radio play - by - play of University of Georgia Bulldogs football games from 1966 to 2008 . He also handled the play - by - play for UGA basketball and Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts and hosted sports - related talk shows . Early life and career . Originally from Minneapolis , Minnesota , Munson attended Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and Minnesota State University Moorhead . While at MSUM , he played basketball as a center and guard and football as an end and tackle . Munson served as a United States Army medic in an Army Hospital during World War II . Upon leaving the military , he spent all $ 200 of his mustering - out pay to enroll in a Minneapolis radio broadcasting school . His first job was at a Minneapolis arena announcing the names of boxers and wrestlers for $ 15 a week . After an on - air job at the KDLR AM radio station in Devils Lake , North Dakota , Munson moved on to AM radio station KFBC in Cheyenne , Wyoming , as a sports reporter in 1946 . At KFBC , Munson met and became friends with co - worker Curt Gowdy . At that time , Gowdy was also the football announcer for the Wyoming Cowboys . Later in 1946 , Gowdy took a job in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , as the announcer for a minor league baseball team and successfully recommended Munson as his replacement for the Wyoming Cowboys job . When Gowdy became a New York Yankees announcer in 1948 , he recommended Munson again to replace him in Oklahoma City . Munson broadcast in Oklahoma until 1952 when he moved to Nashville , Tennessee , for an announcing job with the Nashville Vols minor league baseball team on AM radio station WKDA . During the baseball off - season , Munson convinced local Nashville radio station WSM ( AM ) to broadcast Vanderbilt Commodores men ' s basketball games with himself as the announcer . The basketball broadcasts were immediately successful , and WSM added Vanderbilt Commodores football games to its schedule as well with Munson as the broadcaster . Munson also created a television show about hunting and fishing called " The Rod & Gun Club " on a local Nashville station . In 1966 , the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team hired Munson as part of their initial broadcast team , the franchise having moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta . The first year the Braves were in Atlanta , the television broadcasts were on WSB - TV . An occasional guest color commentator was former major leaguer Dizzy Dean . One memorable Friday night during a rain delay , Dean warbled several verses of the " Wabash Cannonball " and purchased peanuts from a vendor in the stands , much to Munson ' s on - air amusement . In March 1966 , Munson was in West Palm Beach , Florida , for the Braves ' spring training and read in the " Atlanta Journal " that Georgia Bulldogs football radio announcer Ed Thilenius was resigning to become a broadcaster for the new Atlanta Falcons National Football League franchise . The next day , Munson called Georgia athletics director Joel Eaves to express his interest in the Georgia job , and Munson was hired shortly thereafter . Athens radio station WRFC held the broadcast contract and was the parent station for the Georgia Bulldogs . After announcing Braves games for the first two months of the baseball season , Munson returned to Nashville in June 1966 to continue " The Rod & Gun Club " and prepare for his new role with the Bulldogs . For many years after joining the University of Georgia broadcasts , Munson would make the commute to Athens , Georgia for the weekend football games from his home in Nashville so that he could continue producing " The Rod & Gun Club " during the week . His engineer for many years was L . H . Christian , the owner of WRFC radio , who ran the audio board out of personal interest and for fun ; Christian was sometimes joined by Larry Melear or Everett Langford as engineer for the sports broadcasts . Munson continued to live in Nashville until 1978 when he moved to metro Atlanta , Georgia , after joining the Georgia Radio Network as a reporter . Munson moved to Athens in 1997 . On September 22 , 2008 , Larry announced his retirement from being the play - by - play announcer for the University of Georgia Bulldogs . Awards and recognition . Munson has received numerous awards honoring his accomplishments . In 2003 , he received the Chris Schenkel Award presented by the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame . Munson was inducted into the Georgia - Florida Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 . The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association awarded Munson its state - based Sportscaster of the Year Award on multiple occasions : 1960 ( WSM , Nashville ) , 1963 ( WSM ) , 1964 ( WSM ) , 1965 ( WSM ) and 1969 ( WSIX , Nashville ) as the Tennessee Sportscaster of the year ; 1967 ( WSB , Atlanta ) , 1971 ( WRFC , Athens ) , 1982 ( Georgia Network , Atlanta ) , 2002 ( WSB ) as the Georgia Sportscaster of the year . In 2007 , Munson was presented with an honorary varsity letter from the University of Georgia for his contributions to Bulldog football . Larry Munson ' s real name is Lawerence Munson22 : 47 , 13 February 2013 ( UTC ) ~ Voice of the Bulldogs . Munson ' s gravelly voice was one of the most distinctive in all of U . S . sports announcing and was regarded as endearing by Georgia Bulldog fans . Unlike many of his peers , Munson ' s style was to avoid any pretense of journalistic objectivity or accuracy during his broadcasts . He was an unabashed Bulldog fan , but because he generally espoused a dour or pessimistic view of the team , his broadcasts were considered among the modern generation of sportscasters as not only acceptable , but sometimes even more authentic than contemporary sportscasting . His unique turns of phrase – which were virtually always made offhand – became a part of Bulldog fan vernacular . Later years . Approaching his 85th birthday in 2007 , Munson was in failing health and planned to call only UGA home games that season . Prior to the 2007 season , Munson had missed only one game as announcer , a 34 - 3 loss to Clemson on October 6 , 1990 : he was recuperating from back surgery and Dave O ' Brien substituted . Munson also called the Georgia - Georgia Tech game which was at Georgia Tech in 2007 . In the spring of 2008 , Munson suffered a subdural hematoma and required emergency surgery . After undergoing rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta , his family announced that he would be returning to call the home games in the fall of 2008 . However , on September 22 , 2008 , Munson and his family announced that he would be retiring from the booth effective immediately . The road crew of Scott Howard and former UGA quarterback Eric Zeier finished out the season calling all games on the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network . Munson died in Athens on November 20 , 2011 , after complications from pneumonia . Some 3 , 500 fans attended a tribute ceremony at Sanford Stadium on December 10 , 2011 . Famous calls . Some of Munson ' s well known calls include :