Chris Stewart started talking about this almost a half century ago.

A young kid growing up in Fairfield, he used to talk about one day becoming the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide. He told several people that in fact.

Fast forward to 2024, and he is. The Crimson Tide Sports Network announced Wednesday that Stewart will be the voice of Alabama football moving forward and that Eli Gold, who has held the role since 1988, is not being brought back in the fall.

“The reason this means so much is because of professionally what the Alabama job means to so many people, what it means to me," Stewart told The Tuscaloosa News. "It’s special because it’s Alabama but it’s also special professionally because of the men who have had this job before me are people that I have always had great respect for. John Forney, Paul Kennedy and certainly Eli. I know how much this job has meant to him, and I know the passion he has always had for the job, and I hope that I can treat this job with the same level of respect and passion and consideration for it that he always has.”

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Stewart, 53, has been with CTSN since 1998 and has been the voice of the Alabama men's basketball team over that span.

Stewart has already been calling football games the past two seasons; in 2022, he filled in for Gold who missed the season while fighting cancer. Gold came back in 2023 and the two split games; Stewart took away games and the postseason while Gold called home games and the Iron Bowl.

Now, Stewart will be the lone voice of the football program.

"I listened to these guys when I was a kid," Stewart said. "All three of them. To have known all of them and to consider all three of them to be friends, that’s what makes this even more special. It’s Alabama. I could be from Anchorage, Alaska, and professionally, it would still mean a lot. To have known John, to know Paul, to know Eli and to have the respect for them and know what their broadcasting careers have been, to have an opportunity to be next is an incredible honor."

Stewart has received no shortage of phone calls and text messages since the news broke. When he spoke to The Tuscaloosa News on Wednesday afternoon, Stewart had 92 unanswered texts. Of all the phone calls and texts Stewart got, one struck him the most ― The one telling him the job was officially his.

"I was not expecting to get that phone call and I was not expecting to get that news today," Stewart said. "So frankly I was surprised but pleasantly so."

Amid his reflection, Stewart thought back to conversations he used to have at a driving range in Bessemer when he was 15. Stewart worked there, and that's where he met Leland Chiles.

Back in a time where one station didn't have exclusive rights to broadcasting Alabama football, Chiles called Crimson Tide games. He was retired when he met Stewart, but Chiles would tell Stewart stories about his career.

"He would have really gotten a kick out of today," Stewart said.

When he spoke to The Tuscaloosa News, Stewart was on his way to the Alabama basketball game against Florida. He expects to still call Alabama basketball games even with his added opportunity as the radio voice of the football program. Before he walked into Coleman Coliseum to call the basketball game, Stewart said it hadn't quite hit him yet. He expected that to change quickly, though.

“I’m just really grateful I’ve been given the opportunity," Stewart said. "I really hope I can continue to live up to the standard others before me like Eli have set.”

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Chris Stewart: New voice of Alabama football living out lifelong dream