For generations of Jeff Davis sports fans, some of the biggest moments in Yellow Jacket athletics have come with a familiar voice describing the action. That voice belongs to Jim Sewell.
As the 2026 football season begins, Sewell enters his 22nd season broadcasting Jeff Davis football with an impressive milestone already behind him. Across football, baseball, softball and basketball, Sewell has called 1,022 Jeff Davis athletic contests heading into this season. It is a broadcasting career that has spanned more than two decades and included state championships, playoff breakthroughs and hundreds of Friday nights and evenings at the ballpark.
Sewell’s football broadcasting career began with the 1999 season, when he joined Dr. Stan Rentz to provide color commentary. The two worked together for two seasons. After a two-year break, Sewell returned and called games during six seasons between 2002 and 2009, handling both play-by-play and color commentary along the way.
For the past 14 seasons, Sewell has served as the play-by-play voice of Jeff Davis football. Through the years, he has worked alongside Rentz and Tony DeLoach and with color commentators Kyle Summerlin, Randy “Bug” Smith and, currently, Chris Davis.
His connection to Jeff Davis athletics extends far beyond Friday nights. Sewell has called Jeff Davis baseball for 21 consecutive seasons, from 2006 through 2026, broadcasting more than 640 games during that span.
He was behind the microphone for three Jeff Davis state championship series — 2017, 2019, and 2021 — including the program’s first state championship in 2017, which remains one of his favorite broadcasting memories. His baseball broadcasting experience has also taken him beyond Jeff Davis. Sewell was selected to call the baseball state championship series for NFHS in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Sewell has also broadcast more than 120 Jeff Davis softball games, including a state championship game, as well as more than 30 basketball games.
After more than 1,000 games, choosing favorite memories isn’t easy, but several moments remain particularly special to Sewell. At the top of the list is Jeff Davis baseball winning its first state championship in 2017.
Another came on the football field when the Yellow Jackets defeated Swainsboro in a region “mini-game” to earn a playoff berth for the first time in 16 years.
And in 2024, Sewell himself became part of Jeff Davis football history when he was inducted into the Jeff Davis High School Football Hall of Fame.
The numbers tell an impressive story: 22 football seasons, 21 consecutive baseball seasons, more than 640 baseball games, more than 120 softball games and 1,022 total Jeff Davis contests entering the 2026 football season. But for the Jeff Davis community, Sewell’s contribution is about more than a number.
For more than two decades, he has helped bring Yellow Jacket athletics to fans who couldn’t be in the stands, while providing the soundtrack for countless moments that players, coaches, parents and fans will remember for years to come. Teams have changed. Coaches and players have come and gone. Championships have been won, seasons have ended and new ones have begun.
Through so many of those moments, The Voice of the Yellow Jackets has been behind the microphone to make the call. Thank you, Jim, for giving a voice to more than 1,000 games — and for helping generations of Yellow Jackets hear, feel and remember the moments that have become a part of Jeff Davis history.
