The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Gene Bartow's Legacy Through the Eyes of Wayne Martin
12/6/2019 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Wayne Martin covered the UAB basketball beat during Gene Bartow's tenure. He's has been down the road with Coach Bartow and the Blazers from their Elite 8 run, to games in Alaska, Hawaii and British Columbia. UABSports.com caught up with Wayne to hear his story about Coach Bartow's legacy at UAB.
By Wayne Martin
Traffic is light on I-22 across Mississippi at midnight. Headlights bore into the darkness, and pine trees along the highway seem to close in as the lights of Memphis fade and home gets closer.
Conversation came easy for Coach Gene Bartow back in those years he served as President of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies. There was no chance of being misquoted, for there was no story to file. He was no longer a coach, and I was no longer a reporter.
I remember asking him once about his toughest loss. It my mind, it had to be when he coached at Memphis State. His 1973 team lost to UCLA in St. Louis. A win in that one would have given him a national title. Or perhaps the loss to Louisville in Birmingham in the 1982 Elite Eight. A win would have sent him back to the Final Four.
Coach Bartow, remembering Memphis: "There's no doubt those were bad losses," he said, "But to me, personally, the one that hurt the most was losing to Memphis in Houston in 1985. We had a really good team that year, and a good draw in the tournament. I thought if we could get through Houston, we'd get to the Final Four, and there anything can happen."
That team started the year by beating Tennessee, Illinois and Kansas in the Shootout in Alaska, and finished 25-9. UAB got by Michigan State 70-68 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but lost to Memphis in overtime, 67-66. "And the sad thing," Bartow said, "was that it never should have gone to overtime. We were fouled at the end of regulation, but it wasn't called."
UAB will face Memphis again Saturday, this time in Bartow Arena. The Tigers have been here before, and it hasn't always been pleasant for the Blazers.
They are coming this time for the Bartow Classic, and although it hasn't always been pleasant, it just seems right.
Bartow holds a special place in the hearts of fans in both Memphis and Birmingham.
A portion of the proceeds from Saturday's game goes to Gene Bartow Fund for Cancer Research at UAB. And it just seems right that the two schools most closely associated with the Bartow name should join in the battle against the disease that took the former coach's life.
"This is a very special game for us every year," said UAB Coach Rob Eshan. "But it's especially significant this year because we're playing Memphis, a top-15 team. And these two teams were special to Coach Bartow."
Coach Bartow, remembering Memphis: It was a cold January evening in 1980. Melting snow littered the parking lot at the old St. Louis Arena out by Forest Park.
Gene Bartow and assistant coach Lee Hunt were making their first trip back to the arena since losing the national championship to UCLA in 1973. They were coaching Memphis State that year. This time it was UAB players making their way down a ramp into the bowels of the old arena.
"Well, this brings back a lot of memories," said Hunt. "Yes," said Bartow, "And the memories would be a lot better if it hadn't been for Bill Walton." UCLA's Walton hit 21 of 22 field goals that night and scored 44 points.
Years later Bartow recalled talking Walton about the game. "I told him he kept me from winning a national championship at Memphis," Bartow said. "He said to me, 'Coach, you would have still lost. We had people on the bench better than me.' I don't think I believe that," Bartow said.
This year's Bartow Classic is the 10th annual affair, and Memphis has been UAB's opponent in four previous Classics. The Tigers ran off three straight wins from 2010 through 2012 before UAB finally took a 71-65 win two years ago. The Blazers are 5-4 in Bartow Classic games after last year's one-point loss to Middle Tennessee State.
Memphis comes in with a 7-1 record and a four-game win string, but is without the services of freshman James Wiseman, who was declared ineligible until January 12. Four other Tigers are averaging in double figures.
"They are very talented and very athletic," UAB's Robert Ehsan said. "I think they are still trying to find themselves, cohesively. But I think they can be beaten. This is their first true road trip (other than a neutral site)."
UAB is also trying to find some togetherness, coming in off a two-game road trip that produced two losses and ran the Blazers' record to 4-3.
"The thing this trip did," Ehsan said, "is prove that we can be competitive against the highest level teams. I think we are playing good team basketball right now, maybe as good as has been played here is a long time." The Blazers lost at Kentucky 69-58 and at Texas 67-57.
UAB and Memphis didn't play until 1984, but they have seen a lot of each other since that first game in Memphis. Saturday's game will be the 50th meeting between the two schools.
But even in 1978, UAB's first year of competition, the first ever road trip went through Memphis.
Coach Bartow, remembering Memphis: After three games at home, UAB hit the road. On the roster were five players from Memphis, and the Southern Airways jet touched down in Memphis on the way to the Show-me Classic at the University of Missouri.
The went 1-1 in the tournament, losing to Southern Illinois and beating Eastern Kentucky. On the way home there was another stop in Memphis. "I don't feel right just sitting here," Coach Bartow said. "It's Memphis, and I feel like I should be in line getting off the plane."
But he stayed seated and landed back in Birmingham, for the rest of his life. And if he is the Father of UAB basketball, he's surely the Godfather of Memphis basketball, carrying the Tigers to within reach of a national title.
Saturday the two teams meet for the 50th time, and for the loser it won't be very pleasant. But it just feels right.
