[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24922]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO FURMAN BISHER

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, on Sunday of this past week, an event of 
journalistic magnitude took place in the city of Atlanta and the State 
of Georgia. A man by the name of Furman Bisher published his last 
sports column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He typed that column 
on the same manual Royal typewriter upon which he typed his first 
column 59 years ago.
  Furman Bisher is a distinguished employee of the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, a distinguished resident of our city and our State. 
Unlike many in his profession, he had a profound positive effect on his 
city and his State and on sports. Furman Bisher started writing in 
Atlanta, GA when Atlanta's only professional sports team was the 
Atlanta Crackers, a Double-A team playing in a small bandbox stadium in 
Ponce de Leon Park. In the 1960s, as his career emerged, he, along with 
Jesse Adler, were the principal writers of sports in the Atlanta 
Journal-Constitution. He began to be published in other magazines, 
magazines such as Sports magazine, magazines such as the Sporting News. 
He developed respect around the United States as a gifted, talented, 
and honest sports writer.
  Had it not been for Furman Bisher, the Atlanta Braves probably would 
not be in Atlanta, GA because when Mills B. Lane and Mayor Ivan Allen 
risked what then was a huge amount of money, $18 million, to build a 
major league sports stadium without a sports team, it was not until 
Furman Bisher went and talked to the Bartholomay family who were 
getting ready to move the Milwaukee Braves from Milwaukee and convinced 
them to bring major league baseball for the first time ever to the 
South.
  The same was true a few years later when Rankin Smith petitioned to 
buy the first NFL franchise to exist in the South, and that $7.5 
million purchase happened for a lot of reasons but probably the most 
important of which was Furman Bisher.
  What is so great about Furman is he could make sports come alive, 
from cricket to football, from boxing to golf. His writing on boxing is 
historic and his following of Atlanta native Evander Holyfield helped 
elevate Evander to where he became the Heavyweight Champion of the 
World. But probably nothing was more important than the years of 
coverage of the greatest golf tournament on the face of the Earth--the 
Masters. None other than Bobby Jones, none other than Jack Nicklaus, 
none other than Arnold Palmer, none other thank Tiger Woods 
acknowledged that the gifted writing of Furman Bisher about that 
treasured tournament helped to elevate it to where it is today, the 
preeminent event in golf around the world.
  A lot of people contribute a lot to their profession. We in Georgia 
are proud of so many who have given so much to our State. Today I want 
to pay tribute to a man who for 59 dedicated years covered sports in 
Georgia and made it possible for many great things to happen, a man who 
was gifted, a man was talented and a man who, even today, shares his 
wisdom and his commitment to sports as he approaches his 91st birthday.
  On a personal note, as a young boy and a sports fan in the late 1940s 
and 1950s, I used to rush to the mailbox to get our Atlanta Journal and 
our Atlanta Constitution and I didn't go to the funny papers, I didn't 
go to the comics, I didn't go to the crossword puzzle. I went to Furman 
Bisher. Furman was a great writer and to me an inspiration for sports 
in Atlanta, GA. I wish him and his family the very best in their 
retirement.
  I yield the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.

                          ____________________