Georgia legend Larry Munson’s last call was remembering an American hero, UGA cheerleader Noah Harris.
His on-the-air calls of Georgia Bulldog moments are part of the fabric of college football and his unabashed love of Georgia endeared Larry Munson to generations of Dawg Nation. The gravelly voice that produced “Appleby to Washington”, “We just stepped on their face with a hobnailed boot”, “Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!”, “My God, a freshman!”, “So we’ll try to kick one a hundred thousand miles” and so many more, Munson’s last call may have been his finest.
Munson’s final bequest, before he passed away in 2011 at the age of 89, was for the Georgia faithful to remember the rewarding but terribly short life of US Army 1st Lieutenant Noah Harris, a former Bulldog cheerleader captain.
At Munson’s memorial service, his family requested that donations be made to the Noah Harris Cheerleading Scholarship. The endowed scholarship is awarded annually to a student-athlete on the cheerleading team who demonstrates outstanding character, leadership, and dedication to the athletic program and the community.
Harris, who met Munson at the broadcaster’s home, was one of those people that make college football great. From the small Georgia mountain town of Ellijay, Harris led 93,000 fans in Sanford Stadium in cheering on the Dawgs.
Harris graduated from Georgia in 2003. After 9/11, he had joined ROTC and entered the Army as a first lieutenant in the 3rd Infantry Division. In June 2005, while on patrol, Harris was tragically killed near Baghdad by an Iraqi insurgent rocket-propelled grenade.
At Gilmer High School in Ellijay, Harris was a student leader, captain of the football team and a state wrestling champion. He entered Georgia and brought his spirit and athleticism to the cheerleading squad.
Harris excelled in the classroom as well. He was selected for the first class of the prestigious University of Georgia’s Terry College Leadership Scholars Program. His adviser, Professor James Link told radio station WUOG, “The guy always had a smile on his face. He wasn’t a complainer. He was an optimist, and that’s probably what I’m going to remember the most. He was always happy and always was on to the next thing.”
Harris had an infectious smile and a zest for life. His former cheerleading partner, Shelly Gorbiesky recalled to WUOG how well Harris interacted with people, especially children — “He just gets down to their level and, you know, would play with them –if it was a boy, he’d kind of rough and tumble with him and he just had that personality about him.”
While in Iraq, Harris initiated Operation Noah’s Dream. Friends and family sent him thousands of Beanie Babies and stuffed soccer balls so he could hand them out to the local children. He was affectionately known for having “bullets in one pocket, Beanie Babies in the other.”
To try to raise his unit’s morale, Harris also organized a pen pal program that paired his fellow soldiers with UGA students.
At his memorial service in Ellijay, on what would have been his 24th birthday, nearly half the town’s 2,000 residents remembered Army First Lieutenant Noah Harris for making the supreme sacrifice. Since Harris’ death in 2005, “There have been two dozen babies named after Noah,” said his father, Rick Harris, a former Marine. The Ellijay post office is named for Harris.
At the service, dog tags with Harris’ name, the date he died and an acronym of the way he led his life- IDWIC, ‘I do what I can,’ were distributed. In such a short time period, Noah Harris did more than most of us can even imagine. He left a lasting legacy and will always be fondly remembered.
As this 2021 Memorial Day comes to a close, take a moment to remember First Lieutenant Noah Harris and the other brave 309 UGA students who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of military duty. You can support UGA and remember both Harris and Munson by making a donation to the UGA Foundation, Noah Harris Cheerleading Scholarship in memory of Larry Munson, Bulldog
Club, PO Box 1472, Athens, GA 30603.