College GameDay to honor beloved Alabama broadcaster Eli Gold with emotional tribute

Eli Gold is back in the Alabama press box this season — calling games — following a difficult year that had him fighting for his life.

Prior to Saturday’s showdown with Texas, ESPN College GameDay will honor Gold with a tribute as it looks back at his battle with cancer and previews his return to the booth.

Ryan McGee of ESPN shared a snippet of “The Gold Standard” on Twitter. You can watch it below. The full tribute will air Saturday morning on College GameDay.

I am really excited to be a part of this project for @CollegeGameDay. My old racetrack friend Eli Gold is back in the booth in Tuscaloosa after an unthinkable year fighting off cancer and death. "The Gold Standard" airs Saturday morning from Tuscaloosa. pic.twitter.com/AAYzwJ2ZwQ

— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) September 7, 2023

“This job is like holding a rare piece of crystal,” Eli Gold says in the video McGee shared. “I always knew it. It’s now been reinforced. … Football it upon us, and that’s the best medicine I could’ve had.”

Added Ryan McGee: “My old racetrack friend Eli Gold is back in the booth in Tuscaloosa after an unthinkable year fighting off cancer and death. ‘The Gold Standard’ airs Saturday morning from Tuscaloosa.”

Gold has been the voice of Alabama football since 1988, but he missed last year due to receiving cancer treatments.

The journey fighting cancer was a long one for Gold, who told Paul Finebaum a case of the hiccups raised red flags after initial tests didn’t detect his cancer. But he pushed forward and, eventually, kicked the disease.

“There were two things that kept me fighting,” Gold said. “I was fighting for my family. My daughter is getting married in 2024, next calendar year. I wanted to be here to walk her down the aisle. And of course, my wife, who has been absolutely spectacular in helping me and being a caregiver in all of this.”

Eli Gold will call Alabama home games and Chris Stewart will do play-by-play for away games this season. Stewart filled in for Gold last year as the Crimson Tide’s primary play-by-play announcer.

Nick Saban: ‘excited’ to have Eli Gold back in the booth

Alabama head coach Nick Saban said before the start of the 2023 season that he is thrilled Eli Gold will be in the radio booth this season.

“I love Eli,” Saban said. “He’s been with us for a long time. He’s kind of part of the tradition around here in terms of the expectation of being the voice of the Crimson Tide Network in a lot of ways, whether it’s a radio show or whatever it is. I’m just happy for him and his family that he’s getting healthier, he’s able to get around and he’s going to be able to get back and do what he loves doing.

“We’re going to do everything we can to support him and even though it may not be 100 percent full-throttle, sort of working him back into it. But I’m excited to have him back because I love working with him.”