In all the ruckus over the Crimson Tide’s latest national championship, something got lost that happened about that same time: the passing of Gene Bartow, the founding father of UAB sports.

Somehow, that seems typical. The Blazers were, and still are, playing in the shadow of what its fans derisively call “UAT.”

Bartow passed away January 3 at his Birmingham home, after doing battle with stomach cancer for more than two years. In recent years, he had been president of the holding company for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and their arena, the FedEx Forum.

And that’s something often lost on fans around here. Bartow had already made his mark on college basketball well before he came to Birmingham to head a program that didn’t even own a ball yet. He had coached what was then Memphis State (now the University of Memphis) to the Final Four and the national championship game in 1973.

Then after a stint at Illinois, he had the unenviable task of replacing the college game’s greatest coach, John Wooden, at UCLA. He promptly led the Bruins to the Final Four, thus becoming the first coach to take two different schools to that level.

Bartow has long been known for his competitiveness, tempered by his kindness. However, he can get his dander up, as fans of Western Kentucky (my alma mater) can attest. It all goes back to a game in 1986, when the Hilltoppers and Blazers were rivals in the Sun Belt Conference, and what has since become known as “The Mars Bar Game.”

UAB was at E.A. Diddle Arena, carrying a No. 18 ranking in the Associated Press poll and battling for the conference lead, and the joint was packed to the rafters. The Blazers had lost to the Toppers in overtime earlier in the season. Some campus organization was running a giveaway of Mars candy bars, for reasons lost to history.

Late in the game, Western center Clarence Martin unleashed a ferocious slam dunk, but was called for his fifth foul. The crowd rained down boos on the officials, then some rained down Mars bars on the UAB bench. One Blazer returned fire, and things started to get out of hand. Bartow threatened to pull his team off the court for their own safety. Order was restored at last when Hilltopper coach Clem Haskins got on the arena microphone and implored the crowd to behave. Western went on to win.

Some students felt a little ashamed of the incident, as they should have been, and sent Bartow a box of Mars bars as a peace offering. Bartow sent back a gracious letter of thanks, and the incident was forgotten in his eyes.

Bartow’s Blazers had first grabbed national headlines when they made their in 1981, when they made their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which was still a 48-team affair at the time. UAB, playing only its third season, was seeded against Western Kentucky in the opening round, with the winner to play Kentucky. It was a big deal because the Wildcats had a policy at the time of not playing other in-state schools, and the Toppers had only faced them in their 1971 run to the Final Four. It was all a setup, and ironically it unfolded at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.

Bartow had other plans.

Not only did the Blazers smack down Western by 25, they then dispatched the heavily-favored Cats by seven. I hated to see “my” teams lose, but secretly I was rooting for Bartow, because I knew what he had started with at UAB — nothing.

That was just the beginning for “Clean Gene,” who went on to the Elite Eight the following year, and never had a losing season with the Blazers.

UAB has lost its defining figure. More importantly, sports has lost a great man.

So long, Gene.