A night to remember as Mr. College Football rides into the sunset
A journey that began writing for the Union Daily Times in the thriving metropolis of Union, South Carolina, will come to an end this year. Tony Barnhart, known 49 years later as Mr. College Football, is about to call it a retirement well earned at the end of this college football season.
Barnhart was honored Saturday evening at Spurrier’s Gridiron Grill in Gainesville, a gathering that included Steve and Jeri Spurrier and former Florida football greats Danny Wuerffel, Shane Matthews and Chris Doering. Barnhart is a Georgia graduate who staked his claim to journalistic fame working for the late, great Furman Bisher with the Atlanta Journal. There were some good-natured barbs about Georgia and mention was made of the fact that neither Wuerffel, Matthews nor Doering ever lost to the Bulldogs.
As Florida’s football coach, Spurrier went 11-1 against Georgia, the greatest stretch of success against the Bulldogs in school history.
From his start in the newspaper business, Barnhart ventured ever so successfully into broadcasting where he became known as the leading authority on college football while working for CBS, ESPN and the SEC Network. The word that sets him aside from everyone else in the print and broadcasting business is trust.
Coaches trust Barnhart. Players trust Barnhart. Everyone associated with the college game trusts him and there is a reason. Tell him something in confidence and remains confidential, which is why he always has the best inside information. Because he can be trusted with their deepest and most personal thoughts, they are willing to share the kind of information no one else can gather.
The relationship between Spurrier and Barnhart began when Spurrier was the offensive coordinator at Duke in the early 1980s. Barnhart was working for the late, great Smith Barrier at the Greensboro Daily News where he covered Atlantic Coast Conference football and basketball. In 1984, Barnhart was hired by Bisher to write for the Atlanta Journal. He wrote about the ACC until 1987 when he was promoted to college football editor.
Furman Bisher, one of the great sports writers and columnists of our time, always showed up at ball games in coat and tie. Barnhart is known for always arriving at games in coat and tie, his way of honoring Bisher.
Saturday night, Spurrier and Barnhart recalled several of the times their paths crossed such as Duke’s stunning 1989 ACC championship when the Blue Devils beat Clemson, the years Florida and Spurrier won six SEC titles and the 1996 national title, plus the South Carolina years. At South Carolina, Spurrier beat then No. 1-ranked Alabama in Columbia, 35-21, a game in which quarterback Stephen Garcia played what Barnhart described as the “greatest game of his career.”
Spurrier called Barnhart the “greatest non-Florida sports writer of all time.”
Wuerffel, who won the Heisman Trophy while quarterbacking the Gators to the 1996 national championship, praised Barnhart for being a consistent and ardent supporter of Desire Street Ministries, which is now headquartered in Atlanta. Barnhart pointed out that he and his wife Maria are grateful always that Wuerffel is always willing to assist in any way possible with the many charities and projects in which they are involved.
Barnhart paid tribute to the late Norm Carlson, for decades the great sports information director at the University of Florida. Barnhart recalled when he was first sent to an assignment in Gainesville, Bisher told him that when he arrived go directly to Norm Carlson’s office, something he did that first time and repeated for years every time the assignment brought him to Gainesville for a game.
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When the invitation came to be a part of this special evening, I quickly responded yes. I’ve had the chance to admire Tony’s work for decades. If my memory serves me correctly, I was first introduced to him by Claude Felton, the retired sports information director at Georgia and a former colleague of mine with the Savannah News-Press. Claude was the consummate SID. I already knew Tony’s work starting with his days writing ACC basketball. We shared a mutual friendship with the great Dean Smith and we loved the closeness of the Big Four rivals – UNC, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest.
It was at the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville that I saw a side of Tony Barnhart that has always stuck with me. His presence in any press box reminds me of the days when Mr. Bisher arrived. It was like the Red Sea parting for Moses. Tony’s presence is similar but there is no arrogance. He is still the same guy he was growing up in Union Point, Georgia, the same one who started college at Georgia Southern before transferring to the University of Georgia.
One of the things I’ve grown to admire most about him is the patience and thoughtfulness in which he takes the time to answer questions from young sports writers. Newspapers die off at a too rapid pace, replaced by websites that have few editors and mentors to help guide the young guys coming up. Tony has always had an encouraging word for the young guys and I think that is one of the reasons he is so revered as well as why he will be missed so much when he walks out of a press box one last time.
I am reminded watching Tony of how I have been so fortunate over the years. My newspaper career began in February 1964 when I was hired to write junior high school sports for the McComb Enterprise-Journal, which paid me the astounding sum of $3 for every story I churned out long hand. When my family was transferred back to Gainesville in December of 1967, I was sick with the flu for three or four days. Bored and stuck in the house on NE 18th Terrace, I got my sister’s old typing book, my dad’s Remington typewriter and taught myself the basics of typing. It’s important to mention that because the first thing Joe Halberstein asked me when he hired me at the Gainesville Sun in August of 1968 was “can you type?” By then I could already do about 50 words a minute.
In January of 1969, I was hired by the late Jack Hairston, then the sports editor of the Jacksonville Journal. Jack became my mentor until the day he died. In the spring of 1969 sitting at Perry Field watching the Gators play the Ole Miss Rebels and their stud shortstop Archie Manning, Jack gave me words that have stuck with me all my life: “Get the story. By the time you write it everybody will know the score. The story is the people who made the score possible. Your job is to get the story.”
I had a chance to share that with Tony Barnhart Saturday night. He grinned and said, “Jack Hairston. He was one of the greats. Those are wise words that all of us abide by if we’re going to last in this business.”
Tony has lasted 49 years in the business, the last 48 accompanied by his wife Maria, who was his high school sweetheart. She had to drive them to the junior prom because Tony wasn’t old enough to drive yet.
At every stop along the way as he makes it through the 50th year, Tony Barnhart will be greeted with reverence for years of outstanding work, and sadness that Mr. College Football is calling it quits. He will be sorely missed.
There is and will always be only one Mr. College Football.
Great tribute to Tony Barnhart, Franz.
Even as a Gator Fan living in Atlanta, I always read his stories along with Furman Bisher and Lewis Grizzard. It was harder to hate the Bulldogs back when we owned them every year. Much easier now, sadly.
Bravo, to Tony's retirement, which is so well deserved !
Hopefully he can make time to come on Buddy's shows
and continue to give US his personal takes on Colledge football !
I would have loved to be there! Thanks for covering it.
Alas, newspapers are dying and these monuments of writing are retiring. I am glad I was there to read them.
Nice column Franz. Tony is one of the last of the old breed of writers that we all sorely miss. It was never about him and some scoop, but about the game and players. He will be missed as are the past columnists you mentioned in your piece.