Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Somewhere in Chris Stewart’s house is a silver tray from when he won the B-flight of the Bud Burns Dixie Junior golf tournament at the Selma Country Club.

He was within one shot of making the championship flight of the under-17 age group after day one. Heavy rains that morning gave him a favorable course to play, where he shot a 73 to win the flight.

“The fact that I remember it says that it means a lot. It also tells you my accomplishments weren’t that many in competition, but I loved it,” Stewart said.

Stewart got a chance to reflect on those glory days while caddying for his son, Hudson, at the Selma Country Club this weekend, though golf would not be what he went pro in. After a one-semester stint on the University of Montevallo golf team, he turned to broadcasting.

“Thank God broadcasting came along, because I would have starved to death a long time ago if I tried to make any money off of playing the game professionally,” Stewart said.

Stewart becomes fourth lead announcer of Alabama football

Now, Stewart is at the pinnacle of his career. At the beginning of this season, he was named the lead play-by-play announcer to be the Voice of Alabama Football, only the fourth person ever to hold that position.

“Between John (Forney) and Paul (Kennedy) and Eli (Gold), we’re talking more than 60 years of handling the play by play in Alabama,” Stewart said. “It’s very special to be next.”

“It’s not only a huge honor, but I feel a great responsibility to those men to maintain the standard and try to do this with the same care and respect that they had for the job.”

Stewart, a native of Fairfield, grew up an Alabama fan. He has worked alongside Gold, Kennedy, Kenny Stabler and others over the years. He also developed a good friendships with Forney, Doug Layton, Kenny Stabler and others who have inspired him and helped him get to the place he is now.

Alabama vs. Georgia preview

This weekend, No. 4 Alabama will host No.2 Georgia in another “Game of the Century” type contest. Stewart said Alabama and Georgia has become one of the premier matchup in the SEC. The teams have faced off 11 times since 2007 with Alabama losing just twice. Four of the matchups were in the SEC Championship, with the Tide winning all of them.

They’ve met twice in the CFP Championship, splitting the two matchups.

Stewart thinks the intrigue also stems from the relationship between former Alabama coach Nick Saban and his long-time assistant turned Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.

“Alabama has been the dominant team, and while there’s always respect for Georgia and how good they’ve been, the reality is Alabama’s had their number, and I think we’re all excited to see if that’s going to continue,” Stewart said.

Oats making history in men’s hoops

While Stewart is just beginning his permanent role as lead announcer for football, he’s been calling the Tide men’s basketball games since the early 2000s. He was there in 2004 for the Elite Eight run and then again in 2024 for the Final Four run under current head coach Nate Oats.

While Oats has taken an already decorated Alabama program to new heights, Stewart knows what kind of person Oats is. Just months after Oats took the job, Stewart was fighting for his life in the hospital after having bypass surgery and the illness that followed.

It didn’t matter that Oats had seen Stewart a handful of times. Before going to SEC Media Days, Oats brought Herb Jones and Kira Lewis to the hospital and hung out for over an hour on a “very low day” for Stewart.

“I remember telling somebody when he left, ‘I don’t know if he can coach a lick yet, but I know what kind of person he is,’” Stewart said. “And it turns out he’s a phenomenal coach.”

While Kentucky leads the SEC in conference titles by far, Alabama has the second-most titles. Stewart said Oats built on that success by taking the team to four SEC titles, earning its first No. 1 seed and overall No. 1 seed in 2022 and added the Final Four in Oats’ first five years. Stewart said those accomplishments weren’t even achieved during the best of Alabama’s history.

“We’ve got the Final Four now, and the fact that neither he nor anyone else is satisfied with just that and wants the national title tells you just how he has raised the bar,” Stewart said. “It’s tough to make history at Alabama, but he’s doing it. He is rapidly filling in the holes in the resume for Alabama hoops. That’s why even though the level of excitement that there is for football, people are also excited at a level I’ve never seen for the start of basketball season as well.”

Seeing others take pride in his achievements

While the success that Stewart has experienced means a lot to him, it’s meant more to see the excitement it’s brought to his family and friends, even those who remember him from kindergarten who reminded him of what he said he wanted to be.

“I used to say I was going to be Coward Hosell, because that’s what I thought Howard Cosell’s name was,” Stewart said. “ There are so many people that have said, ‘You talked about being the Voice of the Crimson Tide when we were in first grade,’ or whatever time it was, and they have gotten such a kick out of this. That’s frankly the part that I’ve enjoyed as much as anything.”