“To begin an athletic program from the ground up, UAB had to find a motivating force without parallel,” said UAB President Carol Garrison. “Gene Bartow certainly was that person. He was a pioneer and a passionate believer and leader in UAB athletics. Anyone who was fortunate enough to know Coach Bartow was enriched.

“His enduring legacy will be providing fantastic sports memories to UAB fans and ensuring opportunities for physical and academic achievement for thousands of young people. He will be greatly missed.”

“With a very heavy heart I join the Bartow family, UAB and sports fans everywhere in mourning the death of Gene Bartow.  Through his years as a coach, an athletic administrator and an NBA executive, Coach, Bartow built an incredible network of friends, and today we all feel a tremendous loss.  Gene Bartow was an outstanding coach, his record will attest to that, but as all of us who knew and loved him know – he was an even better man.

History will tell you he had a record of 647-353 and that he won seven conference championships while taking 14 teams to the NCAA in a 36 year coaching career.  You will learn from the sports pages that he was one of the first coaches to take two schools to the Final Four and the first to take three different schools to the Elite Eight.  He was chosen to replace legendary coach John Wooden at UCLA in 1976.  Two years later he left to start the athletic program at UAB.  Dick Vitale told a group in Birmingham several years ago that, “The job Gene Bartow did at UAB is the top basketball story of the 1980s.”  But to only look at the record book or the historical record leaves so much unsaid.

When I think of Gene Bartow I am often compelled to remember Jimmy Stewart in his greatest role as George Baily in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”  He has been a truly unsung hero, and nowhere has his impact been greater than at UAB.  I have wondered many times where UAB would be today without the visionary leadership that brought him to the campus.  UAB was an entirely new program with instant credibility totally because of Coach Bartow.  But his impact went far beyond the UAB campus.  The athletic program provided a boost to a community that was hard hit by the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s.  His domination of the Sun Belt Conference and annual trips to the NCAA helped bring excitement to a community struggling to reinvent itself.  His commitment to winning, the right way, impacted his adopted community in ways that went far beyond the basketball court.

Coach Bartow’s influence still exists today at UAB and throughout the region.  He was, without question, one of the most respected sports figures ever in the state of Alabama.  Today the basketball world mourns the loss of a great coach, UAB mourns the loss of a great leader but many others mourn the loss of a great friend.  The loss of Gene Bartow creates a great void in our community and in our hearts.  He will be sorely missed.”

"The City of Birmingham has lost a legendary coach and great man tonight with the loss of Gene Bartow. We offer the Bartow family our deepest condolences and the appreciation of a life well lived.

I worked with him to help in recruiting players to UAB. When he got upset about other teams using unfair tactics he would not use foul language but he would say things like gosh darn and the assistant head coach would translate for him.

He was a kind and decent man that gave UAB credibility in the establishment of  its athletic programs."