Citing financial constraints, the University of Alabama at Birmingham shuttered its football program after the 2014 season. But an outcry from the community — and the tens of millions of dollars of donations that ensued — saved the team. The Blazers returned to the field in 2017. A Champion magazine editor who wrote a Summer 2017 feature story on the program’s resurrection sheds light on the program’s journey back from the brink. Jack Ford with Brian Hendrickson, Champion magazine executive editor.