Back When: Robert Shannon gave a kid from Jasper two tickets to a sold-out game

UAB opened its 2026-27 basketball season this month in a renovated Bartow Arena. The building received $15.4 million in upgrades. It bears the name of the man who built UAB athletics from nothing, and it is now welcoming a new generation of Blazer fans who will make their own memories inside a modernized version of it.

On Feb. 5, 1994, 8,907 people packed the building for No. 17 UAB vs. No. 25 Cincinnati — the 10th-largest crowd in Bartow Arena history. The building was known then as UAB Arena, not officially named after the program founder until 1997. That night produced one of those memories. It had nothing to do with the final score.

John Rutoskey was 10 years old and standing outside the arena fighting back tears.

His pawpaw had driven him more than an hour from Jasper to see the game. For a kid who grew up in a family that struggled financially — there were times when the food on the table came from a garden because that was all they had — UAB basketball was the one thing that brought him joy. Other kids his age had Michael Jordan or Charles Barkley. Rutoskey's favorite player was Robert Shannon.

The game was sold out.

His pawpaw noticed Shannon walking toward the arena with his teammates and encouraged John to go ask for an autograph. Shannon stopped. He set down his backpack and told his teammates to go ahead without him.

He asked where the kid was from. Jasper. He asked why he wasn't going to the game.

"I explained that it was sold out and that we were heading back home so I could watch him on television instead," Rutoskey said.

Shannon reached into his backpack, pulled out two tickets and handed them to John and his pawpaw. Before he walked away, he smiled.

"When I hit a three-pointer tonight, look at me."

UAB and Cincinnati were conference rivals in the Great Midwest — a league that included a Cincinnati program two years removed from a Final Four appearance, along with Memphis, Marquette, DePaul and Saint Louis. Bob Huggins was one of the biggest rising stars in coaching. UAB had already beaten his Bearcats by two at the Shoemaker Center in January, and the games between the two programs had been fiercely competitive.

The Blazers came in at 16-3, but their shooting had gone cold. They hadn't shot better than 41% since a win over Memphis State three weeks earlier. Shannon had managed four field goals in a loss at Marquette three days before Cincinnati came to Birmingham.

Then 8,907 packed the building — standing room only — and something broke loose.

UAB fell behind by 10 early. Reggie Allen and Clarence Thrash started chipping away. Then Shannon caught fire. He hit three consecutive three-pointers, and UAB took the lead on his shot with 5:05 left in the first half. The Blazers went 8 of 12 from three before the break and led 44-40.

Cincinnati shot 61.5% in the first half and still trailed. In the second half, the Bearcats managed 35.5% and scored 27 points. UAB won 83-67.

Shannon finished with 21 points. Thrash had a career-high 18 on 7-of-11 shooting. Carter Long scored 18. The Blazers went 11 of 20 from three for the game — a season high.

"You never judge the kind of night you're going to have on one shot, but after a couple you know," Shannon told the Birmingham News afterward. "Tonight I knew. I wanted the ball. I was in my zone."

Huggins watched the Blazers bury his Bearcats from the arc.

"Coming in here, all we heard about was how bad UAB has been shooting," Huggins said. "But when they hit their shots like they did today, they're really good."

Somewhere in that standing-room crowd, a 10-year-old from Jasper watched the player who had given him his ticket catch fire.

Shannon hit a three-pointer. The crowd erupted. Then he looked up into the stands.

"Robert looked directly at me, pointed at me, and said, 'That was for you,'" Rutoskey said.

The 1993-94 Blazers were Gene Bartow's last outstanding team. The same core — Shannon, Long, Thrash, Allen, Corey Jackson — had reached the NIT Final Four the prior season, which included a historic win in the first and only meeting with the University of Alabama. They finished 22-7 and earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cincinnati game was the peak. UAB won at DePaul four days later, then dropped three straight on the road. They drew George Washington in the first round of the NCAAs — a slow, physical team with 7-foot-1 Yinka Dare, a future first-round NBA draft pick. UAB's shooting woes returned in a 51-46 loss at Nassau Coliseum, ending the record at 22-8.

Bartow coached two more seasons before handing the program to his son Murry. He continued to serve as athletic director in the building that bears his name, retiring in 2000. He passed away from cancer on Jan. 3, 2012 at the age of 81.

John Rutoskey is 42 now. He lives in Texas. He coaches there. He wears a UAB basketball hoodie and a hat with No. 23 on the side.

"People notice it and ask about it," he said. "'You're from Alabama, so why UAB and not Alabama?' I just smile because I know I get to tell that story again."

He has brought people with him. Friends in Texas come sit with him when the Blazers play UNT or UTSA. He is raising two kids who know why their father bleeds green and gold. Carter Long, who scored 18 that night against Cincinnati, was from Winfield — right down the road from Jasper.

In March, Rutoskey sat in the front row in Fort Worth and watched UAB win the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship. He had an extra seat next to him.

"I got an extra seat for my pawpaw, the man who started this whole journey with me," Rutoskey said. "He may not be here to sit beside me anymore, but I wanted him to have a seat because none of this would have happened without him."

The autographed basketball Shannon signed that day has been lost. His pawpaw has passed away. The memory outlasted both.

Bartow Arena has $15.4 million worth of new. Somewhere this season, a kid is going to walk through those doors for the first time and have a night that sticks with them for the rest of their life. That is what the building is for. That is what John Rutoskey knows that the renovation cannot touch.

"He thought he was just helping a kid get into a basketball game," Rutoskey said. "He had no idea he'd given that kid a story he'd spend the rest of his life telling."