RIP: Andy Griffith

July 3rd, 2012 10:54 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Tags: Andy Griffith, Bill Friday

“The Andy Griffith Show” is as Southern as football, auto racing, moonshine, feuding and grits. It’s as much about a feel and a way of life as it is about laughs. Sure, its timeless humor — the show still runs in syndication to this day all across the country — has been embraced by all of America, but down South, “The Andy Griffith Show” captures a better time and a better place, if only in our minds. Even for those of us too young to remember the time and place the show actually portrays.

So we’ll break from sports for just a second to remember one of the greats of the early media age — Andy Griffith. The North Carolina grad passed away at 86 this morning according to his alma mater’s president, Bill Friday.

America — and especially the South — has lost a true giant today. And for those who’ve never heard his brilliant hillbilly-goes-to-a-football-game 1953 comedy monologue, take five minutes and enjoy this:

Andy Griffith Football Story from 1953

Watch this video on YouTube

Think of the millions of smiles Griffith put on millions of different faces over the back half of the 20th century. Could there be a better legacy than that?

For that reason, how ’bout one more non-sports-related snippet you might not have heard:

The Wit and Wisdom Of Andy Griffith – Romeo And Juliet

Watch this video on YouTube

Andy Griffith will be missed. But “The Andy Griffith Show” will live on and on and on. Especially for those of us born and raised in the South.

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barham1945

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In the mid '60's, I was very active at the BSU at Mississippi State. Each fall we would throw a big "welcome" party for new and returning students. We always had "entertainment" in the form of music and skits performed by ourselves. One time, I dressed as a "hillbilly" and performed this monologue word for word (accent came naturally!). I had a ball, and will always remember that. Wish I had a permanent recording to keep (of Andy, not myself.) There'll never be another one like him.

reinhardtt

Amen. Thanks John. I remember watching the Andy Griffith Show sitting in my granddaddy's lap in Atlanta, on TBS, in the mid-seventies. After that, we'd catch the Braves game. Granddaddy, like Mr. Griffith, has passed on. But, like you said, their memories will live on as long we we do.

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