Larry Munson, whose authoritative voice and momentous radio calls helped define the Georgia Bulldogs for more than four decades, died at his Athens home Sunday night with complications from pneumonia according to his son, Michael. He was 89.

The legendary play-by-play announcer began broadcasting Bulldog games in 1966 and remained in that post until 2008 when he decided the first game of that season was to be his last. He noted at the time that after 60 years in broadcasting “there are lots of things I still want to do.”

Larry Munson

“I can’t express enough my deep feelings toward the Georgia football fans,” said Munson in 2008. “They have been so friendly especially during this most recent period of time. I feel I owe them so much more than I can give. I’ll remember all the great times with the Dogs and have the fondest wishes and good luck toward them all.”

“He’s like a folk hero. He has that special style people love and relate to,” said former Georgia football coach Vince Dooley in 1994. “I finally claimed him as one of the best after the ’78 season. He just shot straight up. But I’d come out of the hotel on Saturday mornings rested after a good night’s sleep, feeling good about the game and run into Munson and he’d say, ‘You see how fast their receivers are, how we going to run with them?’ I’d say, ‘Munson get away from me.’ The man is a worrier. He drove me crazy as a coach.”

What made Munson’s calls so beloved was the passion and the partisanship in which he called them. For the players, they knew him as more than Larry the announcer, they knew him as Larry the man.

Larry Munson – Hobnail Boot – Tennessee

Larry Munson – Hunker Down – Auburn

Larry Munson – A Freshman – Tennessee

“He’s a guy that’s been around a long time and he’s a guy that’s done so much for this program,” said former Bulldog Mohamed Massaquoi at the time of Munson’s retirement. “He’s definitely going to be a guy that’s remembered for doing so many great things. Having had a chance to meet him, he’s a better person than he is an announcer.”

Part of Munson’s lore is his endless number of quotable calls. From “My God, a freshman!” to “Run Lindsay” to “We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot,” Munson’s call were passionate and memorable, words Georgia fans remember by heart

Born Sept. 28, 1921, in Minneapolis, Munson was an alumnus of Moorehead State Teachers College in Moorehead, Minn. After World War II, he used his military discharge pay to enroll in broadcaster’s school back home in Minneapolis and followed 10 weeks of training by landing an assignment to work at a small radio station in Devil’s Lake, N.D.

This job started a series of short-term jobs for Munson behind the microphone, the last of which took him to Cheyenne, Wyoming. He had gotten the job by recording an audition tape of a football game between Ohio State and Minnesota, replete with canned crowd noise and special effects.

During his time in Cheyenne, Munson befriended another young broadcaster who later gained national fame: Curt Gowdy, who was calling University of Wyoming football and basketball games at the time. When Gowdy left Cheyenne for a Double A baseball job in Oklahoma City, he recommended that Munson replace him. It was the break that Munson sought.

In 1949, when Gowdy joined Mel Allen on the New York Yankees radio crew, he again recommended Munson for the job in Oklahoma City. Munson eventually spent three years broadcasting baseball there before making his next move.

He left Oklahoma City for Nashville, Tenn., in 1952, taking a job calling games for the Nashville Vols, a minor-league affiliate of several teams, including the New York Giants, Cincinnati and Minnesota. It was a career move that led him into other broadcasting directions. He served a stint as a Nashville disc jockey and also started what was believed to have been the first-ever TV show on fishing. Munson continued to host the fishing show long after he left Nashville for Georgia in the mid-1960s.

While in Nashville, Munson also made his second venture into collegiate athletics. He called Vanderbilt University football and basketball games over the powerful airwaves of AM station WSM.

But in 1966 Munson got his big break into major-league baseball when he landed a job calling Atlanta Braves baseball in their inaugural season. As the Braves’ first spring training began, he read a newspaper story about the departure of Georgia football announcer Ed Thilenius. He then made an inquiry to UGA athletics director Joel Eaves, whom he had known during his days at Vanderbilt. Eaves offered him the Georgia football job during that first phone call.

“The Braves sent me to a car dealer to pick up a car to drive to their training camp in Florida,” Munson said on how he got the Georgia job. “Before I left Atlanta, I picked up a copy of The Journal. When I got to West Palm Beach, I check into my room, threw the paper on the bed, hung up my clothes, took a shower and lay down on the bed. Then I saw this box in the paper saying that Ed Thelenius was going to have to drop Georgia football. The next morning I called Joel Eaves at the University. He offered me the job that day.”

During his career as the Bulldogs’ play-by-play man, Munson has held a variety of auxiliary jobs. He called games for the Georgia basketball program from 1987-96 and for the Atlanta Falcons from 1989-92. He has also hosted various sports talk shows on radio and TV.

In 1983, Munson was recognized by the Georgia General Assembly ‘for his role in the Georgia championship football program.’ Fourteen years later the same legislative body, led by Governor Zell Miller, honored him with a proclamation celebrating his 50 years in broadcasting.

In 1994, Munson was inducted into the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and in 2005, he won a similar induction into the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

Munson is also the 2003 recipient of the Chris Schenkel Award, given annually by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. The award recognizes broadcasters with long and distinguished careers in broadcasting college football, as well as their contributions to community service.

On Monday, University President Michael Adams said, “Larry Munson exemplified the excellence that we believe is the symbol of all the University of Georgia does today. He was loved by thousands of alumni and friends, and was completely devoted to this university and all its athletic teams. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Mary and I extend our deepest sympathy to all the Munson family.”

Funeral arrangements had not been determined.