Former Gardendale Rockets star Jordan Howard set single-game and full-season rushing yardage records at UAB, which has since shut down its football program. Howard, who was ranked seventh in rushing yards gained this season as a sophomore, will transfer to the University of Indiana.

Jordan Howard was a top-notch running back at Gardendale High School, but didn’t attract much attention from the college ranks — except for the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

In his sophomore year with the Blazers, Howard was a breakout star. In his final game of the season, a victory at Southern Miss that made UAB bowl-eligible for the first time in several years, he set a new school record for most rushing yards in a single game (262) and in a season (1,587).

And as it stands now, Jordan’s record may stand for the foreseeable future — because there will be no more football at UAB.

The rumors started about a month ago. We started getting Facebook comments and tweets about it two or three weeks ago. Frankly, I didn’t pay much attention to it — just a bunch of Blazer diehards fretting over yet another rumor, I thought.

Apparently, I was wrong.

UAB President Ray Watts, and is being informed that the program is dead. The rest of us found out via a press release. There’s no definitive word yet on whether the Blazers will get one last hurrah in a bowl game, assuming they get an invitation — a longshot even under the best of circumstances.

Watts, by the way, was in hiding since the weekend. I hope he had fun in that undisclosed location, where I assume he was playing poker with Dick Cheney. He finally showed up for the death announcement.

The official reason will undoubtedly be that the program has been losing money, and that can’t continue to do so. Never mind the fact that more than 80 percent of college football programs don’t make more money than they spend, including every other program in this state except for Alabama and Auburn.

But the real reason is a decades-long feud between two coaches, both of whom are dead, and the son of one of them who seems hell-bent on avenging his father’s grievance.

Gene Bartow, who started the UAB athletic program from scratch, aroused the ire of the son of Paul “Bear” Bryant by sending a letter to the NCAA, accusing the Crimson Tide of cheating.

This happened in 1991. That’s a long time to hold a grudge. But that’s not above Paul Jr., who’s never been known as a particularly pleasant soul.

Bryant the younger is on the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, the 15-member body that governs the Tuscaloosa campus, UAB and the Huntsville campus. Of those 15 members, 13 are Tuscaloosa grads.

Bryant Jr. turns 70 soon, which means he is required by state law to leave the trustee board. So apparently his going-away gift is the head of UAB Football on a platter. (John the Baptist was already spoken for.)

If the ramifications just stopped at the gates of Legion Field, this decision might be considered at least semi-reasonable. But the knock-on effects are widespread. It affects all the other sports teams, because now they will have to find a new conference to join — Conference USA requires member schools to play football. It also affects the marching band, since it’s hard to do a halftime show on a soccer pitch.

But the effects are also measured in human terms. Players like Howard, who just needed a place to showcase their talents, will be forced to go elsewhere. Howard will, definitely — I know of one top-25 ACC school that’s just waiting for him to be officially released.

But mainly, this decision is just insane. To determine the fate of an entire university by the grudge of an old man bent on saving his father’s legacy — a legacy that has no need of saving — is just a stupid power play that makes no sense. But since when has that ever meant anything to these trustees?

#FreeUAB, indeed.

[This column originally appeared in the Dec. 3 print edition of The North Jefferson News, and was written just before press deadlines the preceding day, at approximately the same time that UAB President Ray Watts was informing the Blazer team that they would be disbanded. This version has been slightly updated from the original column to reflect developments since that time. It also clarifies the animosity between Paul Bryant Jr. toward the UAB athletic program in general and Bartow in particular.]