Unsung Hero:
Brad Stewart Covington business owner exemplifies humility, servant’s heart By MASON WITTNER mwittner@covnews.com
Brad Stewart doesn’t prefer the term “hero.” The founder and owner of Bradley’s Bar-B-Que is apprehensive as I inform him he’s been nominated as one of The Covington News’ Unsung Heroes. When I explain that the reason for the recognition is his selfless service to the community over the past year, he still isn’t convinced. He assures me there are countless others in the community more deserving of the honor. He downplays the significance of his contributions, insisting he was simply doing his job. In the end he accepts the nomination and agrees to an interview, under one condition: he’s allowed to focus on the community he serves rather than the service itself. It’s not long into our second conversation that I assess Stewart’s initial hesitation wasn’t a false showing of humility. He’s firm in his belief that the role he and the staff at Bradley’s Bar-B-Que played in providing food for Newton County front-line workers and residents was simply business as THE COVINGTON NEWS
usual. Ironically, his refusal to view himself as an unsung hero is part of what makes him one. “Just to be open and used as part of the whole operation was gratifying for both me and the people that work at Bradley’s Bar-B-Que,” Stewart said. “But it’s also why I have a hard time thinking that I did anything all that heroic. “For us, we tried to do the things we were supposed to do to not put ourselves around people that either knew to be or were suspected to be
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