Furman Bisher, R.I.P.

[David_Tepper]

Sports writer Furman Bisher just passed at 93 years of age. Unless I am mistaken, he covered more Masters than any other sports writer in history.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/18/furman-bisher-dies-sportswriter-obit-93_n_1359841.html?ref=sports&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D144648

[Robert Kimball]

David, we lost a great icon in Atlanta and the South today. Actually, Furman retired officially in 2009, and was living in St. Simons. I can't verify that he has covered the most Masters in history (Dan Jenkins might have that honor), but I know he started covering the tournament in the early-to-mid 50s.

I got my first job in journalism at the AJC -- I was a 25-year-old small fish in a very big pond. Even though I was pretty intimidated by my surroundings, I will never forget how nice Furman was to me. Not we crossed paths very much, as I was a copy editor on the sports desk and he wasn't in the Atlanta office too much. But, he would always call me into his office and pull out old Masters parings sheets from the 50s and early 60s, still with his notes on some of them! He would talk about how different it was on the "tour" back then and how the media really became friends and travelling companions with the professionals. I could go on, but for the time that I knew him at the AJC, he was very generous with his time, and was a walking encyclopedia of all things Masters (and sports) related.

He knew Bobby Jones personally and interviewed him once in the latter stages of Jones's life. Upon hearing of Jones's condition, Bisher asked him if there was any cure for it. "Yes, he said, Death." Furman told me about that interview one day and it still never ceases to give me chills.

Sorry for the ramble, but he was a very good man to know and work with.
-- Rob

[David_Tepper]

Rob -

No need to apologize for your "ramble." Great stuff and very nice to hear from someone who knew the man personally.

DT

[Tom Dunne]

I interviewed Furman for LINKS just three weeks ago. It's hard to believe he's gone. I know he was 93 and all, but part of me is having trouble processing it because he was still so sharp mentally. We spoke for about an hour and it was just a pleasure. What an amazing career he had. And just a nice man.

Rob Kimball,

Furman told me that very same Bobby Jones anecdote. It's not in my story, so I'll post it here. This is verbatim from my notes:

"When I got to Atlanta, Bobby was already impaired. He came to his office with help from his house. He sometimes used crutches and sometimes a cane. But I never played golf with him--I've tried to correct that [Note: His website says he did, which was what led to my question.]. I was a new fellow in town and he didn't know me too well, but he gave me an awful lot of time. I visited him in his office, which was about two blocks from our newspaper's office. We talked many times about many things. He'd always smoke a cigarette through a President Roosevelt-style holder, and he'd always have a bottle of Coca-Cola on his desk. One conversation I'll never forget. We were talking about his impairment, what it did, how it affected him. “Does this disease have a name?” I asked. He told me it was called syringomyelia. I said I'd never heard of it before—is there any cure? And he said, “Oh, yes. Death.” That sort of stunned me. I don't remember what I said after that. "

I said, "What could you say?"

Furman said, "Yeah."

Selah...

[BCrosby]

Great stuff. I did not know Bisher, but have read his work since I was a kid. I own most of his books.

Atlanta has been blessed with great sports columnists over the decades. O.B. Keeler was perhaps the first. I remember reading the late Ralph Magill who went from the sports pages to the editorial pages during a couple of very turbulent decades.

Bisher was the last of the southern gentleman journalists. He could be infuriating but also enlightening. The history he knew was astounding and his voice will be missed. The like will not come 'round again.

Bob

[Robert Kimball]

According to this, 1950 was his first Masters. Not a bad way to start off with Jimmy Demaret as the subject matter. Bisher was originally from N.C. so I wonder if he knew Billy Joe Patton? I bet he did, he knew everyone else in the game . . .

http://www.masters.com/en_US/news/articles/2012-03-19/201203191332170800140.html

[Tim_Cronin]

Furman was the president of the GWAA in 1993, the year I first covered the Masters, and thus attended the GWAA's annual meeting, which takes place on Wednesday morning in the press center. Bisher in full voice was a dead ringer for Foghorn Leghorn's, and he had a one-liner for everything. Some people in the press room said that was the most boring Masters ever. Not if you read Furman.

This is a link to his column on the passing of his son. Be ready to cry. http://www.ajc.com/sports/bisher-i-saw-him-159002.html

Selah.

[Howard Riefs]

Scott Michaux of the Augusta Chronicle wrote:

Bisher lived an extraordinary life and shared much of it with his legions of endeared readers. He was so gifted at the craft of sports journalism that at the first golf tournament he ever covered in Greens­boro, N.C., in 1938 as a college student, he penned the nickname “Lord Byron,” which stuck forever with Byron Nelson.

Shackelford pulls together a few tributes to Bisher:

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2012/3/19/nobody-ever-had-to-ask-i-wonder-what-furman-thinks.html

[Jay Flemma]

We lost a great one. There are a lot of tears from old school-ers right about now...