The first radio broadcast of a football game was in October 1921 when KDKA, a radio station in Pittsburgh, Penn., hosted a live broadcast of Pittsburgh versus West Virginia, according to WeAreBroadcasters.com.
For now over 100 years, radio broadcasters have had the responsibility to accurately and entertainingly commentate football games live to their audience.
At the University of Georgia, Scott Howard, the previous play-by-play voice of the Bulldog Radio Network, held that responsibility for years.
Howard first became part of UGA radio broadcasts in 1993 as a color analyst before taking over the play-by-play role in 2008, following the retirement of the legendary Larry Munson, who passed away shortly after in 2011.
Howard saw his fair share of Bulldog signal callers in his 30-plus year career.
The final starting quarterback that Howard witnessed in his play-by-play role was Gunner Stockton, the former Rabun County record-breaker, who was a first-year starter in 2025.
“Last season was pretty exciting. He’s a fun player to watch,” Howard told The Clayton Tribune. “I think he’s still kind of growing in his ability to play this position, play quarterback at this level. All he’s done has gotten better over the last few years that we’ve seen him play.”
Similarly for several Georgia fans, Stockton left some of his first impressions on Howard in the 2024 SEC Championship game versus Texas when he entered the contest for Carson Beck, who was injured just before halftime.
The Bulldogs went on to win the game 22-19 in overtime while Stockton – who quickly became a fan favorite afterward – displayed his toughness.
On the play before Georgia won the game on a Trevor Etienne rushing touchdown, Stockton famously took a vicious hit from Texas safety Andrew Mukuba, sending Stockton’s helmet flying off his head, forcing him to exit the game.
But Stockton, who was taught by his father Rob – an All-Conference safety at Georgia Southern – to “never stay on the ground,” quickly rose to his feet following the hit, and strapped his helmet back on.
“He was just going to go right back at it. That’s probably something too, that makes him a little bit different than the rest,” Howard said of that moment versus Texas. “His desire to play the game, not stay on the ground as he has said in the past, and he’s just a tough football player.”
Fast forward from that December 2024 contest to roughly eight months later, August 2025, Stockton was the new field general for Georgia.
He was the 22nd different starting QB Howard saw since his start on the radio broadcast in 1993.
With a new quarterback also came new calls from Georgia’s most recognizable voice since the retirement of Munson.
Although Howard never went into a given play or game with a potential iconic call in mind like the famed “Hobnail Boot” or orders for wide receiver Lindsay Scott to “Run Lindsay, Run,” Howard found himself using a few phrases repeatedly during Stockton’s first year as QB1.
One of those was rather simple. It was “touchdown,” signifying that Stockton had once again found the end zone, like he did 10 times as a runner last year.
“He’s gonna pull it down and run it. He’s going to roll to the right, roll to the left. Last year it was ‘touchdown,’” Howard said. “Said that a lot because he had so many rushing touchdowns. He’s dangerous in the red zone. That’s an exciting part of his game.”
As Stockton prepares for his final season leading the Bulldogs, that excitement will likely resonate with fans as well, and be something they remember him for. Howard will remember that excitement too among many other characteristics.
“Just the excitement he brings at the quarterback position,” Howard, who saw over 30 years of UGA football, said of what he will remember about Stockton years from now.
“His love for the game of football, his love for Georgia and his humility and his humbleness and all of those types of things that go into making him who he is and the fine player that he is for the Bulldogs,” Howard said.