#25 The Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide Chris Stewart

Summary

Bubba On the Lake: Episode #25 – The Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Chris Stewart

Release Date: August 7, 2025
Host: Bill Bubba Bussey
Guest: Chris Stewart, Voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide

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Introduction

In the 25th episode of Bubba On the Lake, host Bill Bubba Bussey welcomes Chris Stewart, the esteemed voice behind the Alabama Crimson Tide broadcasts. The episode delves into Chris's illustrious career, personal anecdotes, his passion for sports announcing, and his remarkable journey overcoming significant health challenges.

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Career Beginnings and Early Influences

Chris Stewart opens up about his initial foray into sports broadcasting, highlighting the profound influence of legendary announcers like John Forney and Paul Kennedy. Reflecting on his childhood experiences, Chris recounts a pivotal moment:

"The first one I remember is sitting in the backseat of my parents car listening to John Forney, Doug Layton, and Jerry Duncan broadcast the loss in Jackson to Mississippi State... I was devastated... but hearing John Forney describe the loss ignited my passion for broadcasting."
[12:54] Chris Stewart

He emphasizes the mentorship and guidance he received from these seasoned professionals, which laid the foundation for his own career.

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The Role of Voice of Alabama Crimson Tide

Chris discusses the honor and responsibility that comes with being the voice of one of college football's most storied programs. He shares his deep-rooted connection to Alabama football, stating:

"I'm an Alabama fan long before I was an Alabama broadcaster, and I've never been told that I have to be happy or excited when things aren't going well or that I can't be excited when they are."
[50:36] Chris Stewart

This authenticity resonates with listeners, allowing him to convey genuine emotions during broadcasts, whether the team is triumphing or facing challenges.

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Broadcasting Style and Development

When questioned about how he developed his unique broadcasting style, Chris advises aspiring announcers to remain authentic:

"Be yourself, don't try to. It is okay to find guys that you like and respect and their aspects of their delivery or their style that you want to emulate, but don't try to be them because there's already one of them and you can't be that person as well as they have done it."
[43:51] Chris Stewart

He highlights various influences, from Howard Cosell to Keith Jackson and Al Michaels, each contributing elements to his own approach without overshadowing his individuality.

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Overcoming Challenges: Health Scares and Resilience

A significant portion of the conversation centers around Chris's personal health struggles. He bravely shares his experience with a stroke and subsequent life-threatening complications:

"Seven years ago in April, I had a stroke in my sleep... The only effect was blurred vision because my left eye muscle drooped. But later, I developed pneumonia, MRSA, sepsis, and rhabdomyolysis, landing me in a coma for two weeks."
[60:24] Chris Stewart

Despite these daunting challenges, Chris's resilience shines through. He details his recovery journey, returning to broadcasting just six weeks after leaving the hospital:

"I walked into my home the day before Thanksgiving and did my first basketball game on January 4th, 2020. Since then, I've gotten stronger and am incredibly blessed to continue my career and take care of my family."
[60:24] Chris Stewart

His story serves as an inspiring testament to perseverance and the support of a dedicated medical team.

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The Mechanics of Game Broadcasting

Bill Bubba Bussey and Chris delve into the intricacies of live game broadcasting. Chris explains the dynamic between play-by-play announcers and color analysts, especially in the fast-paced environment of modern football:

"For radio, if the play-by-play guy is not telling you score, time, down, distance, there's no context for what the color guy or sideline guys are telling you."
[55:53] Chris Stewart

He underscores the importance of seamless coordination to ensure listeners receive comprehensive and clear game coverage without unnecessary distractions.

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Reflections and Future Endeavors

As the conversation winds down, both Bubba and Chris reflect on their shared history and the camaraderie built over years:

"Chris Stewart has been our guest, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris, thank you so much, man. It's good to talk to you again."
[66:40] Bill Bubba Bussy

They express mutual respect and look forward to future collaborations, hinting at upcoming projects like the Tailgate Show where Chris may reprise his role as a guest picker.

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Conclusion

Episode #25 of Bubba On the Lake offers a deep and heartfelt exploration of Chris Stewart's journey as a sports announcer. From his early inspirations and career milestones to overcoming personal health battles, Chris's story is both captivating and motivational. His dedication to authentic broadcasting and his unwavering passion for Alabama Crimson Tide football shine throughout the episode, providing listeners with valuable insights and an inspiring narrative.

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Notable Quotes:

1. Chris Stewart on Receiving Encouragement:

   "I was given the assignment of interviewing him for something that was tied to a Mardi Gras ball... and I did something really unprofessional and asked him if I could send him a cassette tape of my play by play work to get a critique on it. And amazingly, not only was he gracious to do it, but a month later, he called me back and gave me the encouragement."
   [32:55] Chris Stewart

2. On Developing His Own Style:

   "I never cared to match the style... I tried to be me, good or bad, whatever that, you know, everybody's got a preference in reality is, you could put... you could play two different audio tapes of different broadcasters and people that have never heard them... but it's just personal preference."
   [43:51] Chris Stewart

3. On the Responsibilities of Broadcasting:

   "My number one responsibility is to tell the listener score, time, down, and distance. That's the number one responsibility. I'm supposed to tell you what's happening with the game, first and foremost."
   [50:19] Chris Stewart

4. On Team Coordination During Broadcasts:

   "The color analyst is... that's literally what they're doing. And not only do I have great people to work with, but they show restraint to not scream out in the middle of me doing play by play. It blocks your view."
   [55:53] Chris Stewart

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Timestamps Reference:

• 00:00 – 04:20: Introduction and initial sponsor messages.
• 04:20 – 66:43: Main content featuring the interview with Chris Stewart.
• 66:43 – End: Additional sponsor messages and closing remarks.

Note: Advertisements, sponsor messages, and non-content sections have been excluded from this summary as per the guidelines.

Transcript

[Unknown Sponsor Voice]

This podcast is brought to you in part by Coke, Buffalo Wild Wings, Southern Immediate Care Guaranteed Labels, Central State Bank, Sunrise docks, bankers Bounty, Dr. Thomas Dudney and the Green Monster Fishing Light. Now back to Bubba on the lake.

[Bubba]

Hey, it's Bubba. Hey, Bubba. Bubba on the lake. Bubba, hey, Bubba. Bubba on. Got it going on. Gotta come and check this. Talking people, talking places from Bubba's perspective. This is Bubba, Bubba, Bubba, Bubba, Bubba on the lake. Hey, Bubba, Bubba, Bubba, Bubba on the lake. Let's go.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Well, hello again, everybody. This is Bill Bubba Bussy, your semi retired, mostly washed up host formerly of the Rick and Bubba show. And we want to welcome you to Bubba on the Lake. I want to thank all of you for punching up the podcast and listening to it. We got a great podcast. We're going to talk with the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Chris Stewart. Chris and I go back a long way. He walks down a lot of memories in this and I am excited for you to hear it, but we're going to have to jump right into it. Of course. We're broadcasting from the Melayella Studio and we want to remind everybody of the website, bubbaonthelake.com that's kind of where everything centers around that you can go and get the podcast. You can go and check out our streaming radio station and by the way, give us some feedback on that. Send me some emails, tell me what you think. Good, bad, otherwise. And we always have our comment line at 3:08 Big Lake. And I always have to say, don't forget to subscribe, turn on notifications so you don't miss anything from the show. Don't we always want you to follow us and. And subscribe and tag and all that good stuff on all of our social media to. Hunter makes sure that I say that every week. So without further ado, we're going to go ahead and take a break so we can jump right into this. Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Is there a better job to have in the sports world? Well, I would say any job better than that to have what Chris Stewart gets to do each week. We will be right back.

[Chris Stewart]

It's Bubba on the Lake. Bubba on the lake.

[Dasani Voice]

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[Chris Stewart]

Mmm.

[Dasani Voice]

The crisp, clean taste of Dasani was made for all of life's thirst worthy Dasani. Because life happens between sips.

[Buffalo Wild Wings Voice]

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[Chris Stewart]

We need more taters. Oh, hey, this is coach Chris Heron with classic country mornings on classic country 90.9. And you're listening to Bubba on the Lake. The baked ones.

[Bubba]

We need more of the baked potatoes.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Well, on the celebrity hotline, as we have been getting ready for football season, we're talking to people who make it all happen from the broadcast booth all the way down to the field. And we have with us now an old friend. He is the voice of the crimson tide, Chris Stewart. Chris, welcome to Bubba on the Lake, my man.

[Chris Stewart]

It is always good to hear your voice. Always good to talk to you. And I'm laughing just hearing that introduction from you, thinking about the fact that, all right, you're now semi retired, and I think the first time I met you in person, you and Rick were kind enough to let me come sit in and just watch. All in. You were still in Gadsden. Y' all had not moved. Y' all had not moved to Birmingham yet. And we're still in studio in Gadsden. Let me come up and hang out with y' all one morning. Did you get to sit.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Did you get to sit on the van seat over in the corner? It was out of the.

[Chris Stewart]

I may have. Actually, I think it may have been, now that you mentioned it. Yeah, I got to sit at the adult table. And it was. It was a cool thing, Chris. I remember.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

I remember that, but I think I remember Even more running into you. Once we had moved to Birmingham, we were over at 94.5 with Dick Broadcasting. And you. I don't know who you were working for then, but we were in the same building.

[Chris Stewart]

But if I was looking for arn, Alabama Radio Network.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

That's right. You were downstairs, right?

[Chris Stewart]

I think I was. Man, I can't even remember. You know what? I take that back. If I was. I had a couple of different runs in that building. I was with Wyde.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Right.

[Chris Stewart]

And then I moved then. Yeah. Rested soul as we knew it then, anyway. And Tony Giles was the. The morning anchor.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Great voice guy, by the way.

[Chris Stewart]

Tim. Great voice guy. Tim Lennox was the news director.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

I remember Tim.

[Chris Stewart]

Alan Collins was our reporter. This is before he left and went to.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

He was a TV guy.

[Chris Stewart]

Yeah, he became a TV guy, but he was a radio reporter. And I did the sports because I followed Greg Screws, who had followed Ron Grillo.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Wow.

[Chris Stewart]

And I was about 25. I was 24, 25. And then I moved up to Arn, which was a couple of floors up, I think. But, yeah, there were a couple of. There were a couple of runs for me in that building. I had some good times and great learning opportunities, that's for sure.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris, I remember running into you in the elevator quite a bit, because we were either running out to the parking lot or doing something or you were coming in, and we used to probably.

[Chris Stewart]

Lost trying to figure out how to get up, get up and down the elevator.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

You know, that elevator was historic in a lot of ways because, you know, we had to evacuate a few times. You know, the fines had made everybody mad. We had a bomb threat, you know, or something. And it was always exciting over there in that bill. I don't remember. What was the name of the building, do you remember?

[Chris Stewart]

Oh, man, if you hadn't asked me, I could have told you.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We ended up making Big Boy Bluff out on the end of it and putting our Big Boy out there. And I tell you, I'm still shocked at how many people used to go by and get their picture made with Big Boy in the city in the background. It was a great spot.

[Chris Stewart]

Big Boy Bluff. And where did y' all get that from? Well, the Big Boy. Where did y' all get it? Because I grew up in Fairfield, and we had a Shoney's in. In Fairfield. But then also, I remember the Shoney's in Hoover on 31. And I figured y' all got one from Gadsden, brought it there. But where did it come from?

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

It actually came From Michigan. We had a listener.

[Chris Stewart]

Oh, y' all had a Yankee. Y' all had a Yankee big boy.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We had a listener actually buy that for us. And then we did a whole Smokey in the Bandit deal. Going to get it and bringing it back. You know, we had to have fun with anything. We did.

[Chris Stewart]

Oh, my gosh. Did you ever. You know, one of the things I do remember is that y'. All. This is gonna be. You gonna love this. I thought I had a sideline gig lined up. I was gonna be the sideline guy. This was early in my career as well. I was gonna do sidelines. I think the late Jim Fife was going to be the play by play guy in. Kenny Stabler was lined up to do color. And this was for. Oh, my gosh. I think it was the xfl.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Yeah.

[Chris Stewart]

The original boat in the next. And the next thing I hear is Rick and Bubba show is going to be your radio broadcast. And I went, well, can't compete with that. Well, that they decided to go in true XFL fashion and go off the beaten path.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Well, that.

[Chris Stewart]

That brought a great idea there part.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

It took a dive right there, didn't it? And it has not recovered to this day.

[Chris Stewart]

It was. Y' all had some great stuff. That was really good. I enjoyed the restaurant, for crying out loud.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Oh, you are. You are strolling down memory lane today.

[Chris Stewart]

I'm. I'm not a rookie, my man. I'm not a Johnny come lately. I what. I listened to y' all on Friday nights doing school boards and.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Oh, no, that was fun.

[Chris Stewart]

It was the best. Y' all were. Y' all were awesome.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

The old skin roundup, you know, it was. It was fun. But if you were doing a morning show and you had to get there at about 5.

[Chris Stewart]

Yes.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

To be there at 11:30 at night. Made kind of for a long day.

[Chris Stewart]

I remember Saturday was. Saturday, I bet, was just glorious.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

I mean, I met myself on the highway driving home one night, you know, I mean, I was seeing ghosts and everything else. And I thought, you know, something's got to give a place up. It was. It was about to kill me. And I was in my 30s, you know, so I've.

[Chris Stewart]

I have come back from Tuscaloosa many a night to Birmingham and gone. Huh. I do not remember the last four exits. So here I am at 4:59. I just passed Mercedes.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Have you done this? I know when you're driving it sounds like you've done this too. Where you, you know, you got a long drive ahead of you and you start out and all of a sudden you just kind of realize I'm at my exit and you don't remember any of the trip and you're like, what was I doing? I hope. Was I asleep the whole time?

[Chris Stewart]

You suddenly feel like you are Clark W. Griswold and you have pulled into the hotel after running over the media and everything else. Yeah, okay, we're here.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

I'm afraid. I was under the log truck most of the way.

[Chris Stewart]

You know, Lord, Great point, great point, Chris.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

You, you've always been a super nice guy and you got the gig. I'm gonna tell you. I know. 50. Well, I was going to say 51%. That's not fair. 75% of the people in our state think you have the ultimate job, the absolute ultimate job. You are the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. You go to every game, you got one of the best seats in the house. You're around all these support staff people and Tyler Watts, who was a great quarterback at Pelham, then went on to have a good career at Alabama. And man, what is, what does that feel like when you got the nod for that? What. How did that feel.

[Chris Stewart]

It, man, I started having what I go back to and I tell this story a lot. Bubba's. The fact that all the wins Alabama's had in all the victories that I heard in my childhood, teenage and even adult years before I joined the network and was hearing the calls on the headset. The first one I remember is sitting in the backseat of my parents car listening to John Forney, Doug Layton and Jerry Duncan broadcast the loss in Jackson to Mississippi State. Yeah, I remember that ended the 28 game win streak.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Was that six three or something like that?

[Chris Stewart]

It was six to three and it was a. Oh, I was devastated. You know, I was a little boy. I was 10. But I cried like I was a newborn and just was sick. But I remember hearing John Forney call that and then getting to know him and getting some great career advice from him and having him listen to a tape of mine and, and encourage me was in literally hearing him say the words, I think you got a chance to be really good at this one day. And then to ultimately get to know and become friends with Paul Kennedy and of course working alongside and being friends with Eli for all those years and then to have the chance to be next in that incredible run. I mean, you're talking about just with those three men that I mentioned going back to the early 1960s and the fact that I'm only the fourth to have the honor of Sitting in that chair is unbelievable. But as I was driving home from an utterly disgusting loss to Vanderbilt last season, it kind of hit me, man, you probably made some 10 year old boy cry hearing you describe that loss. Just like you cried when you heard John Forney describe the loss to Mississippi State. It wasn't supposed to happen, but it did. And while I hate that I had to deliver that news, I'm so honored that I get the privilege of doing it. It's one of the, you know, there might be a handful of places at most where professionally speaking I could have a comparable job. But for me as a kid, who, as I just told you, you know, goes back and is, was a, an Alabama fan as a child and so much love and respect for it throughout my life, to now have that honor of being introduced the way you introduced me and have been on a couple of other interviews today, even just incredibly humbling. And I'm. Look, I'm, I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to hold the job, but you know, the past and from a medical standpoint, I am beyond blessed that I'm capable of doing the job.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We're talking to Chris Stewart, the voice of the Crimson Tide. And Chris, you're right, I want, I want to, I want to focus on that a little bit more a little later. But since you had brought up John Forney, I remember listening to him. He's one of the first announcers I remember hearing Gary Sanders was doing across at Auburn. And you know, those guys were bigger than life. I mean, they just, they absolutely put you there. Let me ask you this. Since you brought that up, we've been going down memory lane. Do you remember a Saturday morning show? It was about 30 minutes, may have been an hour. It was called 5 Forney and fine Bomb.

[Chris Stewart]

Do you remember the F Troop Fright and Football Forecast? Listen to it.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We used to run.

[Chris Stewart]

I talked to Paul about this. Yeah. So I would listen to it and Fife and Paul would sometimes team up on John or another combo would get the other one. And it was great radio. I mean, it was great radio.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We used to run that at one of the stations that I was at. And it, I'll never forget it came on a cassette and we would get it about Thursday and then we ran it on Saturday morning. And I thought it was outstanding. I never thought that it got the praise that it deserved. And I was telling. We've been talking about on the podcast, we're, we're going to develop some more shows and one of them I want to develop is Called the Tailgate. Tailgate show. And the whole concept of that is based off of that show. I thought that was outstanding. I used to. They used to want us to mail the tapes back to them so they could, you know, rerecord them and. Isn't that funny? And this time we talked about that. But yeah, I wanted to carry the tapes home and keep them so I could listen to. It wasn't about the games and it wasn't about the productions. It was about the camaraderie between all of them. And I just thought it was a great program.

[Chris Stewart]

It was terrific and really entertaining and they had fun and, you know, Jim Fife was great. The coolest broadcast. One of the. I shouldn't say the, but one of the coolest things that I got to do early in my career and I can't believe now I even got to do it is. You remember Sports south before it became Fox Sportsnet? Yes, but it was the original Sports out cable channel.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Yeah.

[Chris Stewart]

Sanford and Troy played each other and I was fortunate enough I got to do the sidelines for that TV broadcast. But Jim Fife did the play by play and the recently retired offensive coordinator turned associate ad for external affairs at Alabama, Mal Moore did the color. So here I am as 25, 26 year old on a broadcast on cable television, regional cable television with Jim Fife and Mal Moore and one of the. You know, you're always, when you're a sideline guy for tv, you're trying to look for something unique.

[Bubba]

And.

[Chris Stewart]

I'm going through. My brother played football at Sanford in the 70s and was on their 71 D2 national champ. I'm not sure they called it D2 then, but it was what would now be Division 2 national championship team. I think the same year Livingston won the NAIA championship. And anyway, I'm thumbing through one of my brother's old programs because Steve's 19 years older than I am and I was. I was alive, but I was a baby, literally when he played. And I'm flipping through the pro, one of the old programs and it's at the radio page, okay. You know all the info about the radio network that just about all of them have. Jim Fife was the voice of the Sanford Bulldogs. And I don't know if he did it for more than a year. I think he did it for maybe two seasons. But he called the games when my brother played. And I am. It's got a great picture of it because it's a young Jim Fife and it's a 1973 Jim Fife and You remember what the styles were. You've seen the pictures and everything.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Fat ties.

[Chris Stewart]

Six different patterns between the ties and the shirt and in the long hair. So fourth quarter, they throw it down to mix. Fruit McCree, a guy you know, well, I think from Cross Creek Television Productions back in the day, Spruce was producing it. I showed him, he said, oh, we're using that. So sure enough, they do a hit down to me on the sidelines. And I said, you know, I worked, you know, long former voice of the Sanford Bulldogs is actually the guy on our call tonight. And I said, going through an old program and I find this. And I said, I'm just curious, how much did you pay for that haircut in 1973, Jim? And they zoom in and then transition to it. And Jim never seen the picture before. He couldn't believe I found it, didn't know where I got it. And Coach Moore laughed about it on the air and man, it was just so cool. And I was so fortunate that I got to get into a regional TV game with those two guys. And it's at a stadium that my earliest memories as a kid are going to. But then also you mentioned Gary Sanders earlier. You know, I worked at UAB. I was the first sideline guy UAB had when they went Division 1 in football. Watson Brown and Gene Bartow created the position for me. They were very kind and gracious and made me the sideline guy. So when they played at Auburn, the very first one A game, I'm there as the sideline reporter. Gary was the voice and I got to do. When they would do a couple of TV games, I would move up to the booth and do the radio play by play. What Gary would slide over to do television. But I also did color with him on some of the home basketball games. I think Arn helped or did the distribution when UAB first built a network of multiple stations around the state. And part of that was I did the color on the home game. So I mean, I'm so fortunate. I did games with Jim Fife, Gary Sanders, Eli I got to know very well, John Forney, Paul Kennedy, and those are just the play by play guys. You know, I'm just, I'm very, very fortunate that I had access in early stages of my career to guys who were so good and, and were all so kind to me. And it makes. That's a very long way of saying it. It makes where I'm working now all the more special because it's own. It's fun.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris, do you. Do you sometimes think about that when you're driving to the stadium, the seat that you're in, the mic that you're going to have wrapped around your head.

[Chris Stewart]

Yeah, no question. You know that first time that I, I guess would be three years ago now when Eli was sick. And I was feeling in for him that year as he had graciously done for me, along with Jim Dunaway and Roger Hoover filling in for me when, when I couldn't work for either my stroke seven years ago or 16 months later, when I had the bypass and the infection and missed football season and half of basketball. When I walked in to fill in, I thought about John Forney, obviously Eli, but John Forney and Paul as well. And just. It blows my mind because I'll tell you another connection that goes back even further. Maury Ferrell did games, did the play by play with John on the color before John took over the play by play role. I think it was about the time Coach Bryant became the head coach. It may have been a season overlap. Maury may have done the first year of Coach Bryant, but John was the guy primarily on the play by play call during Coach Fry's era. But before Maury Farrell, there were multiple stations that may broadcast ball games because there was no exclusive rights holder at that time.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Right.

[Chris Stewart]

And I got to know a guy when I was 14, 15 years old. I guess I was playing junior golf, but I also worked. It's a long story, but I worked for Lee Harper, who was the pro and managed Frank House Golf Course in Bessemer. And there Lee had put on a clinic there for youth that I took part in. I was the only kid on the range who'd really ever held a golf club. And I was left handed. So I stood out a little bit and this older man notices me and says, hey, let me guess, you've done this before. And I said yes, or I'd play a few tournaments by then. And he brings Lee over, asked me where I play, told him I didn't, you know, belong anywhere. I was. I played at Westside Golf, which was a driving range and power par three course in Powderly. He said, we need to play a regulation course. I need to be, you know, belong to a club or something. I said, well, I appreciate it, but you know, that's not really feasible for my family. And he said, your parents here? I said, my mom's sitting in the parking lot waiting on me, so let me meet her. Takes me to her. And Lee off, tells my mother, said, if you'll get him to my golf course, at 8 o' clock in the mornings, he can wash carts and gas them up and I will let him play in the afternoons for free. He said, I'll have him here at 8 o'. Clock. I'll have him here at 8 o'. Clock. Well, the man that, for lack of a better term, discovered me on the range for this thing is a guy that would, would drive me from Frank House over to where the range was, where they put this clinic on. They were in separate locations. This man drove, we drove around picking up golf balls before the, the clinic started each week. And you know, in the, in the golf ball picker, the little truck or whatever.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Oh yeah.

[Chris Stewart]

And while he's driving me in this cart telling, you know, we're gonna pick up the balls, he's telling me about his radio career. He'd been a DJ in Birmingham. He did all sorts of stuff, but among his responsibilities was doing sports. And he was one of the play by play announcers of Alabama football. His name was Leland Childs. And I thought, you gotta be kidding me. 14 years old. And this is the, you know, so we, we taught John and, and Paul and Eli, but I know the history of Maury Farrell and I personally knew Leland Childs. And it's just amazing to me that I get to, I get to be one of those guys now that does that. It's incredible.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

You know, Chris, you were very lucky to be the guy washing the carts. I started at a golf course too. And I was a. Listen, I was a weed removal technician and.

[Chris Stewart]

Oh, I did that too. Now trust me, I did that as well.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

They strapped that weed eater on me and I said, how, how far do you want me to go? And they said, you see that mountain over there? It was about three miles away. They said, go to the top of that and come back. And I was like, that's cool.

[Chris Stewart]

I didn't have to do that. But I did have to do that deal that. The crabgrass. Yeah, you know, we had some crab grass right around the greens or on the edges of the greens and they had this device where you could remove it. It still wasn't as tough as that weed eating, but yeah, daylight today when it's about 115.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Yeah. And you know, it didn't help me decide what I wanted to do for a living, but I was able to mark one off. You know, I go, well, this ain't for me, okay.

[Chris Stewart]

I'm going to narrow it down to the ones that include air conditioning.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

You know, it don't have to be air but just maybe not direct sunlight for eight hours, you know.

[Chris Stewart]

Exactly.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

And the year that that was, we were having some brutal summers too. I mean, it was, it was these hundred plus. I mean, we had football players dying, you know, it's.

[Chris Stewart]

Yeah, I remember that at summer practice.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

And it was, man, it was brutal. But Chris, listening to your story, and we're talking to Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide, there's something that, that really resonates with me, and it's the fact that I know a lot of people and you see this with rock bands sometimes or singers or performers. They think this guy just showed up and he was a hit. You worked your way up, man. You, every time there was an opening, every time there was a microphone, a sideline mic, a producer's clipboard or whatever, you grabbed it and ran with it. And over time you learned and you hammered away at the industry and was able to, you know, like the cream rise to the top. And I think a lot of people nowadays don't want to put in that effort. They don't, they don't envision that leading to something. They, they want immediate satisfaction. I want followers, you know, I want, you know, tweets about me, you know, all this. But it, you, it was a process.

[Chris Stewart]

Well, I'll be honest. If you know, you're thankful, you're thankful for what you know. Sometimes you're thankful for what you don't know. And if I had known some of the struggles that I'd gone through professionally and personally, I can't tell you I'd have gone down the same road again.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

But.

[Chris Stewart]

When I graduated Montevallo, I didn't have a job. I didn't. I had one broadcast job that I even had a call about and I couldn't get them to. I mean, it was a, it was a barren, sealed close by, you know, and it was, it was frustrating. I was working, kept a job that I had towards the end of my last semester or last year of college working at Hibbett Sports and just got more hours. I took a job working for the over the Mountain Journal, which was a newspaper that came out every other week. Had a part time gig. Then I got full time as the office manager and, and writing some stories. I went into sports writer and the connection that got me with John Forney, it's kind of, it's really amazing how God will use different things. But the introduction. John Forney came with me, not even writing about sports, but I was given the assignment of interviewing him for something that was tied to a Mardi Gras ball that we were doing a feature on him for. And at the end of the interview, I did something really unprofessional and asked him if I could send him a cassette tape of my play by play work to get a critique on it. And amazingly, not only was he gracious to do it, but a month later, he called me back and. And gave me the encouragement. And, you know, I was doing high school football on cable for Don early with the Alabama Cable Network and my friend Philip Pritchard at Video Visions. Yeah, I know Phil. Yeah, I know you do. Great guy. Philip and I were classmates at Montevallo. We did some work together while we were in school. But then right out of school, I was working for the Journal. But I got Jimmy Lee at Buffalo Rock to be the title sponsor. I still know how I had the guts to call up Jimmy Lee. I'm sitting here at my house now looking at Bentbrook Golf Course, which was his vision and grateful for it. He's still impacting my life today. But Jimmy said, yeah, I'll sponsor it. I think it's a great idea. And I covered all sports. And Philip would do. I'd go and shoot it, bring it back to the studio, and Philip would do the post production on it. And Don ran it, you know, paid a small fee, and Don ran it on his cable channel. And then we wound up. We were doing high school football games. Philip and I were then. Then Don wound up hiring me to do his game of the week. That's what I did with Ryan. Ron gets let go from Channel six and he's freed up. And I asked him to do the color with me. And it gave. Gave us some credibility with his name and reputation. And, man, I thought I was doing ESPN games at that point. We were literally, literally in a bread truck, tape delay. The production was a bread truck and we're in a booth and, man, I thought I'd made it. And it was just awesome. And one thing leads to another, and Alabama Cable Network gets to do some replay broadcasts for Alabama, Auburn, uab, Jack State, Troy. And I'm doing a lot of those and get in the mix with Bama, working with David Crane on baseball. Three years later, they gave me the basketball job because I was doing Birmingham Southern as well. I mean, just domino's in point two left and right, where one falls into the other for me. And I'm just. It's not the traditional path, that's for sure. And there were some lean times, tough times, and it ain't like I'm printing money now. But I'm grateful for where I am and to have truly one of the premier play by play broadcasting jobs in the nation and just so thankful that been able to fulfill a childhood dream and do it in my backyard.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris, you've had a lot of shirts hanging in your closet, I guess. Was Montevallo. Was Montevallo the first place you did play by play and you were the guy.

[Chris Stewart]

I was a freshman. Yeah, I was a freshman at University of Montevallo and you know, Bill Duke gave me an opportunity. He was a professor. He's, he's not with us anymore. But Dr. Duke, you know, freshman, the freshman year do my first game and we get through and all the students did the production work. Cameras, producing, directing, audio, all that stuff. And in myrick gym we do that game and I get through and come back to the gym and he looks at me and folds his arms and grins at me and he said, well, I think we found ourselves a play by play announcer.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Oh, that felt great.

[Chris Stewart]

I was terrible. Oh, felt phenomenal. Now I've watched it and I'll tell you this. I watched it, probably the last time I watched it was about 15 years ago. And I promise you this, I'll never watch it again without alcohol being around. I'm not condoning it. I'm just saying I won't watch it again sober. Oh, it was horrific. But I'm, I'm so thankful for it. Some wonderful times. I loved love Montevallo. It was wonderful for me. Was given so many opportunities there to just learn and figure it out on my own. And I'm not saying I didn't have some help, but nobody was teaching me how to do play by play. You know, in a classroom setting you learn to write, you learn how to make your voice hopefully a little better. You learn things, tools that help make you better. But in terms of, hey, this is how you call the game. I don't think there is a textbook. And even if there is one, it's pretty presumptuous that that's going to be the blueprint to follow you. Either I think you've got it or you don't. There are things you can learn along the way. But you know, you can't teach me to be a rocket scientist, you can't teach me to be a doctor. There are things that people that can learn it, but I'm never going to be cut out to be one of those. And I think even though it's nowhere near as important as those first Two, I mentioned you can't be taught to be a play by play guy. You can learn the mechanics and that sort of thing, but you kind of either have it or you don't. And God didn't give me height, looks, brains, money, but he's allowed me to run my mouth and say what I see in a pretty timely manner to me, hopefully in an entertaining way. And I think that's really what play by play is.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We're talking to Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris, gonna take a quick break, come back, and we appreciate you being with us here at Bubba on the lake.

[Chris Stewart]

You're listening to Bubba, Bubba on the Lake.

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[Chris Stewart]

Hey, guys, this is Andy Irwin, director of the movies. Like I can only imagine, an American underdog. And you're listening to Bubba on the Lake.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

On the celebrity hotline, we have Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. And we've been breaking down, if you would, for lack of a better term, his rise to that job. Chris, let me ask you this. How did you find your voice? We've talked about a lot of great announcers out there. Okay. And they have different styles.

[Chris Stewart]

Yeah.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

And there's other ones around the SEC that have unique styles. How did you become Chris Stewart and not a John Forney redone or a Jim Fife redone or whoever. How did you land on your voice? Did you. Does it just come natural or do you make a point to be. This is my sweet spot. This is where I need to stay.

[Chris Stewart]

Yeah, it's a really good question. And I know you get. You talk to kids all the time that want to get into our industry and, and I tell them all the.

[Bubba]

Time.

[Chris Stewart]

You know, be yourself, don't try to. It is okay to find guys that you like and respect and their aspects of their delivery or their style that you want to emulate, but don't try to be them because there's already one of them and you can't be that person as well as they. As well as they've done it. So I think, you know, for me, there were. There were people that I really enjoyed listening to that kind of soaked the fire for me of wanting to do this as an adult. I never cared to match the style. But, you know, as a little boy, I used to pretend I was coward wholesale because that's what I thought Howard Cosell's name was. Yeah, in.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

He had quite a unique style, Chris. He talked up and down like that. Dandy Don was warming up.

[Chris Stewart]

And gosh, and the stuff he did with you knew it was a big event if he was doing it. But, you know, that's kind of what got my attention as a kid about sportscasting. But then Keith Jackson, Al Michaels. Do you, you know, do you believe in miracles? Yes. You know, Keith was so good at just sounding like himself in TV and radio, as you well know, are different mediums. But, you know, Keith could say. And I think Brad Nestler's great at this too, saying a lot without saying much. And, you know, radio, I have to, just as the play by play guy, I have to describe virtually everything. Or you don't see it. You can. I think you can talk too much on television at times, but a dick in Berg with. Oh my, you know, you. You knew what a moment it was when you heard him. Because I think he was just watching things and responding as a fan might, you know, watching it at home. So there are a lot of guys that I could point to that influence me, but there's nobody that I ever tried to emulate. I tried to be me, good or bad, you know, whatever that, you know, everybody's got a preference in reality is, you could put. You could play two different audio tapes of different broadcasters and people that have never heard them. You put 10 people, listen, probably five are going to like one, and five are going to like the other, or six and four, you know, but it's going to be pretty close. It's just personal preference. One's not necessarily wrong and one's not right. It's just. What do you do you like? I mean, you know, Bill, you and Rick forever went against the norms and were incredibly popular, but so was Paul Harvey, and he was the traditional, you know, broadcaster. You guys, to me, were this generation's TC and John Ed. That's what I grew up listening to. Yeah, that's what I grew up listening to was TC and John Ed. And I think y' all were being yourselves, but you captured something that nobody did before or since that I'm aware of in the market. I know you guys had national reach, but, you know, Rick being the, quote, professional guy like Tommy Charles and you being you just like John Ed was, and people can relate to that. But you know as well as I do, there's a lot of people that wouldn't listen to y' all because they prefer the traditional sound. And that's okay. That's why you got different formats, different stations. You know, Andy Burcham and I can call the same game, but depends on whether you're Alabama, Auburn fan as to whether or not you think one of the other's better. And it doesn't have anything to do with our broadcasting. You know, that's just. That's just the reality of it. People are going to have different opinions, regardless.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

I've got to tell you, I. I don't get to hear every one of your games, obviously, because we're working during some of them, but I do. I do enjoy catching you when I can. And one of my favorite moments from last year, I guess it was. It was last year, the Georgia game, where Alabama got the big lead and you were having. You sounded like a kid in the candy shop. And I was laughing, driving up the road, listening to you, because you were having so much fun. Now, the game ended up getting very close toward the end, but at the. At the beginning of the game, it was like some kind of freakish blowout. I mean, Alabama could do no wrong.

[Chris Stewart]

Georgia could do nothing, 28 nothing.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

And you couldn't believe it. I mean, you could tell in your voice, you. You were seeing something that you just never imagined was going to happen, and you were enjoying it. I was laughing, enjoying listening to you. Have fun doing it. Because I thought, man, he is. It doesn't get any better than this.

[Chris Stewart]

No, it doesn't. And I appreciate it. Look, here's the thing. I am. My number one responsibility is to tell the listener score, time down and distance. That's the number one responsibility. I'm supposed to tell you what's happening with the game, first and foremost. Hopefully, I'm going to do it in an entertaining way, but also I'm going to be myself and I'm going to try to have a good time. I'm not there to try to make it a comedy show, but you know me, that's kind of my personality, just like it's yours. You like to laugh. You like to make people laugh. You like to have a good time. And I think Bama fans relate to me. I think they know pretty quick. They've known it for years. I care about the outcome just like they do. I was an Alabama fan long before I was an Alabama broadcaster, and I've never been told that I have to be happy or excited when things aren't going well or that I can't be excited when they are. So I'm not doing my job if I'm not informing you what's going on. But I think I do wear my heart on my sleeve as I'm doing it, and I think that resonates with people and the folks that sign the checks or sign off on me and give me any grief about that. So I guess it's okay right now.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris, talk a little bit about the nuts and bolts of doing a game. You have Tyler Watts there doing your color, and you guys have to operate. It's almost like Dancing with the Stars. I mean, you. You got to do the steps. You got to. You got to move together in that. I. I discussed that with your predecessor a little bit earlier. Tell me about what you expect from your color guy. When do you turn it over to him? When do you expect it back from him? How does that work with you guys?

[Chris Stewart]

Well, so much has changed with the game itself, which changes what we do. You know, I've done a good bit of television play by play as well. I was doing high school games up until about three years ago on Friday nights with Tyler. I mean, we did about 16 seasons together of. Of high school games, and that's after I called four years of his. And it is. It's much more challenging on radio with the pace of the game now than it used to be. And. And what I mean by challenges, not that I'm Better now than guys were, you know, previous to this, this pace. But where the challenge comes in, you've got analysts and most have a sideline reporter there for a reason. There, there are things that they add tremendously. The broadcast, well, back in the day when it was John or Paul, then Eli and it's Doug Layton in the booth, Jerry Duncan on the field or whoever it happened to be, you know, the play is run, whistle blows, they go back to the huddle and there's time to turn it over to the color guy to talk about what just happened and probably throw it down to the color guy to get assault. Now you're back up to the play by play guy who sets the, the formation and calls the next play. Well, man, there ain't no huddle anymore. Very few, very few teams do that. So it's quick and then it's bam, right back to the line of scrimmage. And it's not that what the color analysts or sideline guys are telling you isn't important or it's less important, but the reality is for radio, if the play by play guy is not telling you score time down, distance in formation, there's no context for what the color guy or sideline guys are telling you. I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but it's just how different things are. And the pace of the game makes it far more challenging to tell the info that needs to be told. And I do my very best to shut up so the color guys can, you know, I'm drawing the picture and they're filling their color and get in.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

It is a good title in it. Color man.

[Chris Stewart]

It's. It is. The color analyst is. Is. That's, that's literally what they're doing. And not only do have I been really fortunate to have, you know, Brian passing for 22 years on in basketball and Tyler and John Parker that I work with on Bama football broadcast. But in addition to them being knowledgeable and being able to say what they see for them to love, because not only is it their school, whatever, those guys wore the uniform and they're living and dying with every play as well. And it's easy to get emotional and to, you know, to cheer out loud as your color guy or react out loud to a play and the fact that Tom Stipe is so great on the trigger as our producer, but also that those guys show restraint to not scream out in the middle of me doing play by play. There are guys, we see highlights all the time where that occurs or Hear highlights where it happens even in radio. And I think it's awful because it's the equivalent of you trying to watch a game on TV and somebody jumps in front of the screen during the most important part of the play. It's a distraction. It blocks your view. When I'm doing the play by play on radio and I'm telling you what's going on with the play with somebody screams doing the color or talks over you, yells over you, whatever, it's distracting. And you can't clearly, as the listener, hear what's actually going on.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

It's like stepping on your partner's foot when you're dancing it.

[Chris Stewart]

It's all of those things. It actually is. So is it the end of the world? No. And do people, you know, have fun with it? Sure. And that goes back to the personal preference part. But I'm just saying, professionally, I'm. I'm really fortunate that, you know, I can't tell you Brian celebrated stuff and beat me to death while I'm doing the play by play. Celebrating, but not make a sound. You know, not make a sound verbally. But I remember when Alex Reese. It turned out we lost the game anyway. But you remember when Alex Reese made the three at the buzzer against UCLA the year we were in the bubble for the NCAA tournament.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

You know what's funny about Alex? I knew him when he was tall enough to walk under a table, when his dad, his mom and dad, his dad worked out at the Pelham Racket Club. I've known a long time.

[Chris Stewart]

And phenomenal people.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Yes.

[Chris Stewart]

And great. And was so happy for him. He played through all these injuries, and it looked like he'd say, oh, it looked like in that moment that he salvaged the game. We're going to go winning overtime. We're going to go to the first Final Four. And of course, none of that happened except the overtime part. But in the moment, you don't know it. It was so big. Brian literally is tackling me as I'm after the shot goes through, and I'm describing what's happened and everything, but he didn't make a peep. Dang near killed me, but didn't make a peep the whole time. And those are really cool moments and special that guys understand, you know, kind of how it has to all unfold in order for us to tell the story. We're excited. We're celebrating with the listener, but we got to relay the message first or they don't know why we're celebrating. It's like we're not letting them in on the secret if we don't. Exactly. And clearly what's happening.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

We're talking to Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris, you mentioned it earlier. You kind of touched on it. Tell us a little bit more with whatever amount you want to share about the health scare that you had. And how are you now?

[Chris Stewart]

Oh, man, I'm incredibly fortunate. I'll give you the elevator speech so as not to bore everybody, but seven years ago April, I had a stroke in my sleep. It took quite a while for it to be diagnosed that it actually was a stroke. And normally in the stroke world, if you don't have the blood clot cleared within an hour or two, your quality of life goes down if you survive at all. And based on when mine happened in my sleep, which is very rare in some other circumstances, it was anywhere from 8 until 12 hours before the stroke. Excuse me, before the plots were cleared. And amazingly, the only ill effect I had from that was blurred vision because my left eye muscle drooped and so I had to see clearly. I had to wear either a patch over my left eye if I was wearing contacts, or Scotch tape over the lens so that I could just see out of the right eye and it would function. For me, that was the only issue. 11 months after the stroke 5 months later so 16 months from the stroke in a social setting, Jay Sharma, who was the physician that saved my life on the operating table when I had my stroke, I'm with him again, a social situation. He tells me I look great, asks me how I'm feeling, and I tell him that outside of a little tingly or tightness in my arm, I'm feeling fantastic. He said, what do you mean? Where? And I showed him in my left arm where I was experiencing, just on rare occasion, some tingling, some a tight feeling. He said, chris, that's your heart. We got to get you in. Arteriogram revealed that I had 95% blockage in the widowmaker.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Wow.

[Chris Stewart]

I would have had a massive heart attack and likely died if he hadn't in that setting. Told me, you need to get checked out and good you spoke as quickly as I did. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So beyond blessed. The surgery was a success. Had it on a Monday, went home on a Friday, felt really good. So much so that I went to church on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, home felt good. Had visitors come over. The last visitor leaves my house, seven o' clock on a Wednesday night. I have shuts the door behind him. I have no memory from that moment until a month later I developed pneumonia, mrsa, sepsis, rhabdomyolysis, all my organ shut down. I was placed in a coma for two weeks to allow my body to try and rest. They could not get things figured out. Finally, I came out of the coma. Even though I was down to 115 pounds and didn't have the ability to walk or even raise my arm, I slowly, gradually got stronger. Two and a half months total at Brookwood, followed by three weeks at Spain Rehab. I walked into my home the day before Thanksgiving. This was all in 2019, I guess. Had the surgery first week of August 2019, and then walked into my home with assistance, but walked in on my own power the day before Thanksgiving and then did my first basketball game January 4th of 2020. So about six weeks after I'd gotten out of the hospital and was back at work when Covid struck and changed everybody's lives. And since that time, I've, I've gotten better, I've gotten stronger. And you know, weighing 115 pounds is not an issue. Weighing 185 when you're short as I am is. So I'm too, I'm doing too good these days. I'm trying to get some of it off, but incredibly blessed, incredibly fortunate to be alive, but even more so that, or just as much so that I'm able to work at a job where I can take care of my family. And something that has been as enjoyable for me as this career has been.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris Stewart, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris, this has been a great visit. I've. I've got like a page of questions and I didn't get a quarter of the way down, but it's been a great visit and walk down memory lane and I think it'll be inspiring and inspirational for a lot of folks that may not know all of that background about you, but I really appreciate you taking time to talk to us. And I'm going to. I'm going to take you up on being a guest picker on the Tailgate Tailgate show later this year.

[Chris Stewart]

You tell me when and I won't be. I won't be as good as Leonard's loser, but. But I'll have fun.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Well, we'll try not to damage your career too much. You know.

[Chris Stewart]

If it ain't been destroyed by now, brother, you ain't going to have anything to do with it.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Chris Stewart has been our guest, the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris, thank you so much, man. It's good to talk to you again. And we got to get together and break bread sometime.

[Chris Stewart]

We'll do it. You just tell me when. Appreciate you.

[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Thank you, sir, so much. And we'll be right back.

[Chris Stewart]

You're listening to Bubba on the Lake. Hit Me Bad. A production of Intergalactic Pants and Teas.

[Andy Irwin]

All rights reserved.

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[Bill Bubba Bussy]

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[Bill Bubba Bussy]

Well, that is about going to do it. We're running a little over schedule, but it was well worth it to visit with our old friend Chris Stewart. And of course you can catch Chris wherever you catch Crimson Tide Sports. He's done a great job. Very proud of Chris and he has been very successful. Enjoyed that visit. You know we, we are a little behind on our visits and it was great to catch up. Very insightful and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Folks, thank you for being part of the podcast and remember, we need you to always subscribe. Check, follow all of that stuff they want you to do now so that the program is successful. Thank you all for being a part of it. And remember, being on the lake is not necessarily a location, but a state of mind. Love you. Take care.

[Chris Stewart]

It's Bubba on the Lake Bubba on.

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