The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Designates Memphis Basketball Game As Bartow Classic
11/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The Jan. 22 UAB/Memphis men's basketball game at Bartow Arena has been designated as this season's Bartow Classic.
The event, named in honor of legendary coach Gene Bartow, will tip off at 6:00 p.m. and will be televised nationally by ESPN 2.
UAB Athletics will donate $2 for every ticket sold (excluding season tickets) to the Coach Gene Bartow Fund For Cancer Research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. Bartow has been battling cancer since being diagnosed in April of 2009, and the fund was established in his honor at the first Bartow Classic in December of last year.
Tickets to the game are priced at $27 for lower level reserved seats and $22 for upper level reserved seats. Tickets for the game can be purchased online at UABSports.com or by calling 205-975-UAB1 (8221).
Bartow, who was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame last November, has significant ties to the Memphis program as he coached the Tigers from 1970-74. He led then-Memphis State to three consecutive postseason appearances, including a berth in the 1973 NCAA Final Four.
Bartow is one of the top college basketball coaches of all-time. By the time he retired from collegiate coaching in 1996, he had led teams for 34 years at six universities (Central Missouri State, Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA and UAB), compiling 647 wins and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Final Four appearances. In fact, he still ranks in the top 20 among winningest NCAA D-I basketball coaches.
Bartow was at the helm of the UAB men's basketball program for 18 seasons, compiling a record of 366-203 (.643) during his tenure. He led the Blazers to the NIT in the program's second year of existence, and followed that up with seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including trips to the Sweet 16 in 1981 and the Elite Eight in 1982. In all, he led UAB to 14 postseason appearances, 10 of which were NCAA Tournaments.
Bartow is considered by many as the "founding father" of UAB athletics. As the UAB Director of Athletics from 1977 until his retirement in 2000, Bartow grew an intercollegiate sports program there from its infancy into one that featured 17 sports.
The Browning, Mo. native retired from coaching in 1996, and in 1997, UAB renamed its basketball venue, Bartow Arena, in his honor.
The 1989 Alabama Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Bartow was voted as one of the top 10 most influential figures in Alabama sports for the past century by The Birmingham News. He currently serves as the President of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.
