Sunday, May 18, 2008
Sports, "Hunt's Grunts"

No One Beats Bisher

 

Hunt Archbold
Furman Bisher at his “Roast & Toast” May 13 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

By Hunt Archbold

Many a time I’ve sat and stared at the blank computer screen as a deadline approached. Not so much because I didn’t know what thoughts I wanted to convey, although that’s certainly been an issue at times over the years. No, oftentimes, as the whiteness of the screen silently mocked me, my personal dilemma centered on the desire to write the perfect column. I know that that is OK.

Last week at the Cobb Galleria, a group of around 1,200 or so folks gathered to honor a journalistic icon. Atlanta’s own (via Denton, N.C.) Furman Bisher, who will turn 90 a little later this year, sat front and center at the head table as a collection of friends and colleagues roasted and toasted him at an event that brought lots of laughter and a few tears. It also helped raise more than $100,000 for two of Bisher’s favorite charities, the Paul Anderson Youth Home and Eagle Ranch, two Georgia organizations that help bring hope to children and young adults who have little or none.

Bisher, of course, is the longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist of the. He came here in 1950, and despite offers over the years to pack his bags and move elsewhere, he hasn’t left. He is the last man standing among a group of legendary nationally acclaimed sports columnists that include Jimmy Cannon, Red Smith, Shirley Povich, Jim Murray and Fred Russell. In his time, Bisher has covered 54 Kentucky Derbys, the first NASCAR race and every Super Bowl save the first. Thirty years after Shoeless Joe Jackson’s banishment from baseball as part of the historic 1919 Black Sox scandal, Bisher got the only post-banishment interview Jackson gave.

He’s won 23 Best Sports Stories of the Year honors, 18 first place Associated Press Awards and 19 Georgia Sportswriter of the Year honors. He’s also been honored with the PGA Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award, and is credited with helping pave the way for major league sports to come to Atlanta. In the mid-’60s, when Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen was looking to enhance Atlanta’s image both nationally and internationally, it was Bisher’s contacts and reputation that ultimately helped bring the Braves from Milwaukee, and later pro sports teams were born from there.

Bisher has had his share of detractors, as well. Less than two months ago, his column on Major League Baseball’s decision to begin the season in Japan drew a host of angry bloggers to the column’s comment page. His contributions to a pair of Saturday Evening Post stories in the early ’60s involving brutality and gambling in the world of college football drew the ire of coaching legend Paul “Bear’’ Bryant. But they also seemed to engender a change in Bryant’s attitude as he mellowed and became one of the most beloved coaching figures of all time. Bisher’s stories have always carried within them both passion and opinion. And he can be cynical, too: “Cynicism is based on how sacred one considers the subject,” he was once quoted. “Some people in sports are held in great reverence but don’t deserve such reverence. Few humans do.’’

Yet on this night, a myriad of personalities felt Bisher did deserve reverence. In person and on videotape, they offered heartfelt tributes. Georgia’s U.S. Senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, praised him onscreen. So did Jack Nicklaus, Vince Dooley, Bobby Cox and Tommy Lasorda, among others. A letter from President Bush was read, as was one from Arnold Palmer. In attendance, Gov. Sonny Purdue read a letter of commendation stating that Bisher’s “impact on national sports journalism is unmatched and his contributions to the Atlanta community and to Georgia have been invaluable to our rise to national prominence.’’ Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders read a proclamation that May 13, 2008 had been recognized as Furman Bisher Day.

Football greats Dan Reeves and Sam Huff did their share of roasting and toasting from the podium, as did Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz. Noted writers David Kindred and Terry Kay, both former AJC staff writers under Bisher’s tutelage, were humorous and eloquent in their remarks about their former boss and longtime friend.

After all the tributes, good-natured ribbing (I’ve never heard so many old age jokes), and gifts, the man of honor finally stood up. Although he was almost too choked up to speak, especially when recognizing his wife and children. It was touching, to say the least. But at last, he offered this:

“I’ve listed to all this and however over-glorified I am, what I’m looking for is how good the next column is going to be. And I’m searching somewhere down the road to write that perfect column. There’s one out there that’s got to be written that’s better than all the rest. At least, that’s my goal.’’

I grew up reading Furman Bisher, even scored a T-shirt off of him once, thanks to his famed “I Beat Bisher’’ contest in the paper in which readers were challenged to out-pick him in a collection of weekend football games. The first time I ever met him was in his AJC office, not long before I was to graduate from college. As a favor to a family member, he had agreed to meet me and offer pointers or guidance or whatever as I was about to embark upon the world of sportswriting. The meeting was short, but I remember thinking that there was no way I could ever write as well as he did. And that may very well always be the case. But to know that after all these years he’s still striving for that perfect column, well, that should be some inspiration to us all. At least it is for me.

Happy times … and Happy Memorial Day weekend, too. Be safe.