Another day, like "Sands in the Hourglass, These are the Days of Our Lives". A torch again has been passed; well not really passed, I guess it is almost like the end of Tribal Council on the TV show Survivor, the fire is put out and you leave.
What am I talking about you ask? I'm speaking about the retirement of another "Legendary" Sportswriter, in this case; Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Furman you see is now 90 years old. Not 90 in the old, feeble needing help sense, just 90 as in "I've been around a while and still have things to do" kind of sense. I'm not sure I've ever met someone his age who didn't pass for it. Furman, I would have sworn was around 70.
((Furman Bisher photo//Courtesy: Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal Constitution))
It's hard for people younger than my generation to understand just how important these grand storytellers were...and are to our lives. The younger set (yeah...I said it), seems to be perfectly alright with sentence fragments and Acronyms or abbreviations as part of telling a story. The old guard, they would have none of it. Mr. Bisher was classic "Old Guard". He still to the end wrote the 1st versions of his stories on his 1950's Royal Typewriter. They would later be transcribed to computer and over the past year, really you didn't get to see much of his work except on AJC.com.
I got the opportunity to go to Mr. Bisher's home in 2000 and do an interview with him about a story that I was working on at the time. Rob Tribble and I were working on a feature about "Ol' Poncey Park" in Atlanta where the Atlanta Crackers used to play. The property where the stadium was, like most of Atlanta at that time was being converted to a "Big Box" Shopping plaza. Mr. Bisher agreed to meet Rob and I at his home outside of Atlanta and we got to go down to his workplace; his basement which I've got to say would be one of the Top 5 Sports Memorabilia Collections in the United States. We spent about 10 minutes setting up, 10 minutes interviewing him and about 40 minutes getting a tour. It was one of my best memories working down there.
Over the past 9 years, I ran into Mr. Bisher at many Sporting Events. We got to sit down with him a couple of years ago when he was inducted into the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame. Intrepid Sports Anchor Mark Harmon and I would see him every year at perhaps his...and our favorite place; Augusta National. It's funny, the stories that are all over AJC.com right now talking about how the golfers would always be reverential to him and he was almost always "Mr. Bisher" are totally true. I've seen and heard it in person. For the folks at the press center there; he was legend. I think he's been to more Masters than anyone except for maybe Gary Player or Arnold Palmer...I don't know. But Mark and I would always exchange pleasantries with Furman while we were there. If ever there was an outsider who could be considered an insider...well, there's your man.
It was a sad thought when I had heard that Mr. Bisher was putting away the typewriter. I hope that he at least will keep it out long enough to do another book on his adventures. His adventures, his stories and his perspective are a great read for anybody with an interest about the history of Sports. Not just the simple history, but the minor history, the local history and the perspective of someone truly gifted, truly enabled and truly one of the greatest storytellers of all time. Thank you Mr. Bisher for entertaining me and oh so many others for all these years, we are grateful. Enjoy your time off, relax, take it all in and do some of the things you've always wanted to do but were too busy working to do...you've earned that right.
If you want to read more from AJC.COM Check out Steve Hummer's tribute HERE
Read Furman Bisher's final column on AJC.COM HERE
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