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Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Chris Stewart, a play-by-play announcer with the Crimson Tide Sports Network (at right), talks with state Sen. Jabo Waggoner at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
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Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Chris Stewart, a play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network, was the guest speaker at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
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Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Chris Stewart, a play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network, speaks at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
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Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry, left, poses for a photo with Chris Stewart, a play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network, at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
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Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce officials and Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry pose for a photo with Chris Stewart, play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network,, (fourth from left) at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Chris Stewart on Tuesday gave a play-by-play of life events and opportunities that caused a “domino effect” of grit, determination and perseverance that led to him reaching his wildest dreams.
Stewart, a play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network who has been named Alabama Sports Broadcaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association six times, shared his story with the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce at the Vestavia Country Club.
The Fairfield native took the podium and reminisced about how his future as a lauded sportscaster was seemingly “instituted” during his childhood at Glen Oaks Elementary School in Fairfield, as his interest in broadcasting was based on their weekly assignment to report on current events.
Each student was given three minutes to make their presentations, but Stewart took 15 minutes to do “a full sportscast in Ms. Simmons’ fourth grade class,” he said.
That led to “the Chris Stewart rule,” which meant sports-related events could be reported only once a month. Regardless, Stewart’s love for calling sports play-by-play was born there, he said.
Stewart told a story about innovation birthing opportunity. Immediately after graduating from the University of Montevallo, he couldn’t find a job in broadcasting and landed at the Over The Mountain Journal. “I wasn’t even covering sports. I was answering phones and writing any and every assignment,” Stewart said.
A year later, he began covering over-the-mountain high school football games for a local cable access show he and a friend created. This step put Stewart back on the air and propelled his career forward, leading to a job as the radio announcer for Birmingham- Southern College sports.
Stewart went on to build an impressive career doing play-by-play announcing for more than two decades for what since 2002 has been the Crimson Tide Sports Network. In 2009, the University of Montevallo gave him the college’s Alumni Achievement Award, and in 2021 he was named to the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
Photo by Je'Don Holloway-Talley
Chris Stewart, a play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide Sports Network, was the guest speaker at the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Vestavia Country Club on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.
Now, Stewart is beginning his 25th year with the return of college football this fall, replacing Eli Gold as the full-time play-by-play football announcer at Alabama.
“Do you see how the dominos are falling one behind the other? The [domino effect] has brought one thing after the next that I never saw coming,” Stewart said.
Stewart, husband to wife, Christy, and father of three – Anne, Parker and Hudson – shared a series of health battles that made him appreciate his life and career all the
more. Six years ago, he battled the aftermath of a stroke he had in his sleep which caused the formation of two blood clots on his brain.
“I almost didn’t survive,” Stewart said. “Dr. Jitendra Sharma, by God’s grace and divine intervention, wound up being my attending physician [at Brookwood Baptist Medical Center], and he saved my life.”
Extracting the blood clots proved difficult for the team of doctors, but Sharma made one final attempt.
“He told me ‘There was no plan B, and you were running out of time,’ and on one of the last attempts he could make in good conscience (before pulling the sheet over me), he cleared the clots, and I opened my eyes and was fine,” Stewart said. “I’m grateful to be here today.”
Sixteen months after his stroke, Stewart would learn that the “widowmaker” artery in his heart was blocked and that he would undergo bypass surgery. Complications from the surgery put Stewart in a coma, and he developed an infection that led to “pneumonia, sepsis, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (commonly known as MRSA) and rhabdomyolysis,” Stewart said.
“Every major organ began to shut down … but by God’s grace, I’m still here,” Stewart said. “It’s certainly nothing I ever did to deserve to get better.”
Life and death will change your perspective, Stewart said. “I’m somebody who had to be brought to his knees to realize how much my job meant to me,” he said. “The fact that I still get to do my job and take care of my family is certainly God’s grace and mercy.”
The Hoover resident said 2024 has been a remarkable year. He’s been having fun, making new memories with his family and will spend the summer playing lots of golf with his 13-year-old and going to his son’s basketball tournaments.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry said monthly chamber luncheons with keynote speakers with stories as powerful as Chris Stewart’s are good for the community.
“The message was inspiring,” Curry said. “What he shared with us today about those dominos falling over into one another — there was some divine intervention there, and [a] message for all of us; we all gain from it.”
