There’s no denying the world was a different place in 1989.
It was more than a generation ago and we no doubt have forgotten just how much has changed in that time. On a hot, early summer night in 1989 I graduated from high school. That event is supposed to help steer the path you will take and it couldn’t have been more true for me.
My class had the honor of hearing Furman Bisher speak that night, something which I had a hand in. My small class was tossing around names for a possible guest speaker a couple of months before our big event and while I don’t remember any of the suggestions from anyone else, I do remember the name I threw out: Furman Bisher.
The sports writing icon had always been a must read for this sports junkie. He traveled the world covering anything and everything related to sports. If it was a big event, Bisher was there, writing about it, painting a picture of it like only a true artist could. His words often jumped off the page at me, even long before I had visions of being a sports journalist.
Our class advisor drafted a letter and mailed it to Mr. Bisher asking if he would speak to our gathering at graduation. A couple of weeks later the school secretary spoke through the intercom and said, “Mr. Furman Bisher is on the phone.”
I was dispatched to the front office to take the call. Despite my nervousness, I managed a, “Hello” and I recall him saying in somewhat of a gruff voice, “Furman Bisher here. I understand you want me to speak at something.”
I explained to him my class wanted him to be our graduation speaker (along with a few ‘umms’ and pauses thrown in) and he agreed to do so.
Years later he would tell me, “I really didn’t want to do it, but I couldn’t think of a reason to say no.”
In my mind, Bisher was the stereotypical sports writer. A little rough around the ages, he was always in somewhat of a bad mood and had the ability to look beyond the final score for the real story. It’s not a simple task to put words on paper (or computer screen as it’s done today.) However, Bisher, in my estimation, was the best at it. There are others who are Hall of Famers. There are others who are known across the country. However, I always felt we had the best right here in Georgia.
The list of people he interviewed reads like a “Who’s Who” in sports. I could only imagine talking with some of the people Bisher did.
He is a member of practically every sports writing hall of fame there is and is even a member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame itself. He was part of a legendary trio at the Atlanta papers along with Lewis Grizzard and Celestine Sibley. All three were such strong writers that their talents carried over beyond their work in the newspaper.
Bisher never really retired. Even after he was pushed out the door of the Atlanta paper, his column found a new home in papers in Conyers and Covington and such. I must say I always crinched when I would see his column buried on page 10 of the sports section. Rule #1 in my book stated you always put any column by Furman Bisher on the front page of the sports section, no questions asked.
Several years after he spoke at my high school graduation and helped point me in my life’s path, I knew something needed to be done to honor Bisher. I first went the route of trying to get the state’s newspaper organization to do something but was met with a wall of resistance from people who quite frankly weren’t qualified to retrieve a notebook for this icon.
Eventually, the Georgia Sports Writers Association did name its top award for Bisher and that tradition continues until this day. It’s probably not the proper tribute he deserves, but it was the best this small-town guy was able to muster.
Bisher’s passing at the age of 93 further ends an era of newspapers of which I admire but cannot fully understand. The smoke-filled newsrooms, the all-night sessions getting the paper out and working for much less pay than you deserve were all staples of the business many generations ago.
Well, one of those three certainly remains the same although Bisher once told me, “I get paid to watch sports. How bad can that really be?”
Chris Bridges is sports editor of the Barrow Journal. You can reach him at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
