Week after week, college football fans across the country have become familiar with seeing the face of Rece Davis on their screen every Saturday morning as they sip their coffee and get ready for another epic Saturday in the fall.
Davis — an alumnus of the University of Alabama — has hosted ESPN’s College GameDay now for a decade since 2015 and is one of the more beloved personalities on the network. Now, he’s getting a very special honor from the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Davis will be recognized as the 2026 Distinguished Alabama Sportsman at the State of Alabama Sports Hall of Fame 58th Annual Induction Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, May 9, 2026.
He has worked for ESPN for over 25 years and beyond College GameDay has been heavily involved with NFL Draft coverage, SportsCenter, and much more programming on the network.
Davis is a a native of Muscle Shoals and graduated cum laude from UA in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the school of communications in news and public affairs.
He was named the UA’s School of Communication Broadcast Department’s outstanding alumnus for 2001. In 2019, Davis was inducted into the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences Hall of Fame.
Davis joins a list of ASHOF’s Sportsman of the Year winners that includes:
- Bob Hope (1988)
- Hugh Culverhouse (1991)
- Former President George H.W. Bush (1992)
- Charles O. Finley (1993)
- Larry D. Striplin, Jr. (1998)
- Bill Ireland (2000)
- Roy Kramer (2003)
- Jim Wilson, Jr. (2005)
- Michael E. Stephens (2006)
- Joseph Gibbs (2008)
- Nick Bollettieri (2009)
- Rick Woodward (2010)
- Don Logan (2011)
- Ron Froehlich (2015)
- Mike Slive (2015)
- Edgar Welden (2016)
- Pete Derzis (2017)
- Jimmy Rane (2018)
- Daniel Moore (2019)
- Robbie Robertson (2020)
- Angus R. Cooper II (2021)
- John McMahon, Jr. (2021)
- Gene Hallman (2022)
- Bob Barrett (2023)
- Mark Womack (2023)
- Jeff Underwood (2025)
The ceremony will be held in the Birmingham Ballroom at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel, and more information or ticket purchasing can be accessed by contacting the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Museum at (205) 323-6665.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
