[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4590-4591]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO FURMAN BISHER

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, next week the annual Masters Tournament 
will begin in Augusta, GA. It is a beautiful time of the year in our 
part of the world, and certainly Augusta is a little piece of Heaven, 
particularly this time of year.
  As that tournament begins next week, there is going to be a sad note 
in the air because of the fact that Furman Bisher, a giant in the world 
of journalism, a man who has covered the Masters for the last 50 or so 
years, died last week at his home in Atlanta. He died at the age of 93 
and passed away peacefully in his home after a storied career as one of 
the Nation's foremost sports writers. It was a career that lasted an 
astonishing 60 years.
  After nearly six decades of elegant observations of the sports world 
for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Furman pecked out his final 
column before his October 2009 retirement on the thinning keys of his 
trusty Royal typewriter. His choice of instrument to convey his 
thoughts in this age of instantaneous, inane chatter says a lot

[[Page 4591]]

about why newspaper readers after so many years continued to seek out 
Furman Bisher's column in the AJC's sports pages.
  It all came down to this: Furman's graceful prose, courtly voice and 
sharp observations were unfailingly backed up by old-fashioned shoe-
leather reporting. He gloried in doing his homework, making that extra 
call, interviewing one more player or assistant coach or trainer, in 
order to breathe even more life into the game or the race or the fight 
for his readers.
  It's also why Furman became a Georgia--and an American--institution. 
Simply put, Furman loved sports. And he loved journalism. At age 90, he 
was still driving out on summer nights to cover minor-league ballgames.
  In his career, Furman scored many journalistic knockouts, including a 
1949 interview with Shoeless Joe Jackson--the only one Jackson ever 
gave--regarding his involvement in the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
  He got stock tips from Ty Cobb and watched Jack Nicklaus' 1986 
Masters victory. He sat in the press box at countless Falcons games at 
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and covered the Olympics, both winter and 
summer. He even had a hand in bringing professional sports teams to 
Atlanta.
  He wrote 11 books, including co-authoring two editions of a Hank 
Aaron autobiography. And at The Masters Tournament in Augusta every 
April, Furman reigned among the azaleas and oaks as the dean of the 
sports press corps.
  In a testament to his longevity in a tough business, until his 
retirement, Furman covered every Kentucky Derby since 1950, and every 
Super Bowl but the first one.
  He even branched out into TV. Although I did not grow up in Atlanta, 
I have heard from many people that preachers across the city would cut 
sermons short so that their congregations could be home for Furman's 
kickoff on ``Football Review.''
  Along the way, he earned the respect of his colleagues and the 
loyalty of his readers, garnering writing awards too numerous to 
mention. He served as president of the National Sportscasters and 
Sportswriters Association from 1974-1976, and of the Football Writers 
Association of America from 1959-1960. His features appeared in The 
Saturday Evening Post, Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated, to name but 
a few.
  In 1961, Time magazine named him one of the five best columnists in 
the Nation. I would argue that that honor fit until the very end.
  No less than the great Jack Nicklaus said of Furman's retirement: He 
might be turning in his last column for the newspaper, but Furman will 
never stop writing or giving his opinion. I guess you could say that 
when it comes to the last writings of Furman Bisher, I will believe it 
when I don't see it.
  Furman would close every column with a single valediction--the word 
``selah''--a Hebrew word that ends many Psalms and that exhorts the 
reader to reflect.
   It is appropriate, then, to reflect on Furman's long, fruitful life 
and career, one that began in Atlanta as the Korean War was starting, 
when Joe Louis was still boxing, when the Minneapolis Lakers were the 
NBA champs, before Willie Mays had joined the major leagues and before 
Sports Illustrated magazine even existed.
  In all the ensuing years, Furman chronicled the triumphs and the 
travails of the sports world and its often-all-too-human heroes. As 
Furman would say, ``Selah.''
  I am thankful for Furman Bisher. I am pleased to have been the 
recipient of reading many of his articles through the years and also 
very proud to have called him a very good friend over the years. He was 
a gentleman who will be missed for his professional career as well as 
just being a great person and a great individual.

                          ____________________