Furman Bisher was a renowned sportswriter and editor who served for fifty-nine years as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) sports editor. Over the decades with the AJC, he shaped the voice of Southern sports reporting while contributing to hundreds of articles for Sports Illustrated, the Saturday Evening Post, and many other national magazines. His influential sports writing shifted the landscape of American sports, especially in the South.

James Furman Bisher was born on November 4, 1918, in Denton, North Carolina. He began his studies at Furman University in South Carolina before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he was a manager for the North Carolina Tar Heels football team. In 1938, he began his career at the Lumberton (NC) Voice. He quickly moved into an editorial role, joining the Charlotte News as an editor in 1940.

Bisher continued advancing in his career, and in 1950 he became the sports editor of the Atlanta Cnstitution. In 1957, he joined the Atlanta Journal and the Sunday Journal-Constitution as sports editor and columnist, while continuing to write for the Atlanta Constitution. He also wrote for Sporting News.

As a reporter, Bisher immersed himself in the sports world in major events across the country. He covered the Masters Tournament each year of his career, the Kentucky Derby, and every Super Bowl from 1968 to 2009. He also attended the first NASCAR race at the Charlotte Speedway while working in Charlotte, North Carolina.

His reporting influenced the culture, especially as he advocated for baseball in Georgia. Bisher is credited with bringing the Milwaukee Braves to Atlanta. He would later write about this in his book, Miracle in Atlanta (1966), which chronicles the franchise’s arrival and how it shaped Atlanta’s modern sports identity.

Bisher was not limited to this one publication; he wrote many other books throughout his career. In his early career, he wrote With a Southern Exposure (1962), featuring stories of various sports greats. This was followed by Strange But True Baseball Stories (1966), Miracle in Atlanta (1966), and Aaron, r.f. (1968), his celebrated biography of Hank Aaron.

He continued producing influential works through the 1970s, including The Birth of a Legend: Arnold Palmer’s Golden Year, 1960 (1972), highlighting the career of professional golfer Arnold Palmer. He continued with The Atlanta Falcons: Violence and Victory (1973), an illustrated history book about the Atlanta Falcons football team, and The Masters: Augusta Revisited (1976), a behind-the-scenes look at the famous golf tournament.

Throughout his career, Bisher fostered personal relationships with many legendary athletes, especially in the field of golf. Once, he even golfed with Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen. While covering the 1954 Masters Tournament, Bisher watched in awe as amateur Billy Joe Patton “laughed his way” through the course, shooting a hole-in-one on his way to nearly snatching the coveted green jacket from Sam Snead. Patton lost by one stroke, and Bisher later recounted the golfer’s wistful comment, and Bisher’s favorite sports quote: “I could have handled the fame, I could have handled the money. But I doubt if I could have handled the women.”

Bisher’s deep connection to the American sports world did not end when he retired in 2009. He occasionally wrote columns for the AJC, and continued to cover the Masters Tournaments. In early 2010, he began writing as a guest columnist for Southern Community Newspapers, the parent company of several regional newspapers across Georgia.

Bisher’s many achievements earned him wide recognition. He secured membership in the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, the International Golf Writers Hall of Fame, the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) honored him with its Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award in 1996, and the Georgia Writers Association presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Bisher was also awarded the Red Smith Award for his contributions to journalism. His work was anthologized by Triumph Books’ Best Sports Stories of the Year multiple times, underscoring his enduring impact on Southern sports writing.

Furman Bisher passed away from a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 18, 2012. He was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2018.