FAIRMAN FAMILY A BUNCH OF GOOD SPORTS
Pick a sport, any sport, and chances are the Fairman family has it covered
On many Christmases over the years — even recently — Lisa Fairman vividly remembers her children waking up to find something having to do with hockey under the tree. There would maybe be a softball glove or baseball bat, too. And there was usually a piece of football equipment and a basketball also mixed in somewhere.
It seems Santa Claus always knew. As families go, the Fairmans could use a little from a lot of sports. “Between Toys “R” Us and Dick’s over the years, I think we bought just about every piece of athletic equipment,” Lisa Fairman said with a laugh.
Ask Mom these days what sport each of her kids play, and she’ll plead the fifth.
The Fairmans are one of the most unusual sports families you’ll find anywhere. Eric and Lisa Fairman live in the Thomas Jefferson School District and have five children, ages 16 to 24. All five are athletes and get this:
All five of them either played, are playing or will play a different sport after high school, which is as unusual as a $2 bill.
Talk about a diverse family — in sports. In terms of athletes, that home on Challen Drive in Pleasant Hills is more a “five-star resort.” The place should have the Olympic symbol above the front door, a ring for every sport that the Fairmans play.
“When I say to someone that I’m one of five kids, that brings a different look to their eyes,” said Alysa Fairman, the oldest daughter. “Then when I tell them we all play a different sport, they’re usually, like, ‘Oh, my goodness, that’s unheard of.’”
But it’s not just that the Fairmans have all chosen to play five different sports. What makes their story even more unusual is all five are very good in their sport. Two are currently Thomas Jefferson High School athletes, two are former Thomas Jefferson athletes now playing in college and one is a former Thomas Jefferson athlete who finished with a standout college sports career.
Oh yeah, their mom is the successful girls basketball coach at Thomas Jefferson High School and son, Eric, is one of her assistant coaches. Never mind the Fairmans. Just starting calling them the Excellentmans. Check out the athletic excellence — and diversity:
• Eric Fairman is 24, the oldest child and mom’s assistant coach with the girls basketball team. As a kid, he used to sleep with his baseball glove and bat and he went on to play baseball at California University (Pa.), where he was the PSAC West Baseball Athlete of the Year as a senior in 2019. He became only the third player in California history to have at least 20 home runs, 100 RBIs and 80 stolen bases in a career.
• Alysa Fairman, 21, is a senior softball player at Carlow University and could possibly be the team’s No. 1 pitcher this season.
• Garret Fairman, 20, is a redshirt sophomore defensive end on the Robert Morris football team, but is sitting out the spring season with an injury. He was a starter as a redshirt freshman in 2019.
• Hunter Fairman, 17, is a Thomas Jefferson senior and one of the top high school hockey players in the area. He came into this week leading all of the PIHL in points with 52 and was second in goals with 28 in 14 games. After high school, Hunter is eligible to play one more year with his travel team (Esmark Stars of New Kensington). Then he plans to play juniors somewhere and hopefully get a college scholarship.
• Graci Fairman, 16, is a Thomas Jefferson junior and leading scorer on the Jaguars basketball team at about 15 points a game.
“When the [COVID-19] quarantine hit for everyone last year, you should’ve seen. It was like the Fairman family boot camp at our house,” Alysa Fairman said. “We would be working out, in our driveway, doing pushups together. I think sometimes it hits me, ‘You mean, other families aren’t like this?’ But this is just what we do.”
The thing about all the Fairmans is they all played multiple sports in high school — and excelled.
Besides baseball, Eric also played basketball at Thomas Jefferson and one year of football. He went out for football two weeks after the start of preseason camp as a senior. A week or so later, he was a starting linebacker alongside Chase Winovich, who is now in the NFL with the New England Patriots.
“I just felt I wanted to experience TJ football before I graduated, just because of how prolific Cherp [coach Bill Cherpak] has made that program,” Eric Fairman said.
Besides softball, Alysa Fairman also played volleyball at Thomas Jefferson. Garrett Fairman also played basketball and baseball. Graci was a starting outfielder on Thomas Jefferson’s softball team two years ago as a freshman.
Hunter Fairman can joke that he is the “oddball” of the family with hockey, because no one else ever played that sport. But he also played golf at Thomas Jefferson.
“The biggest thing I can tell you is we really support each other,” Eric Fairman said. “I’m the oldest and I think they all said, ‘OK, my bother did this and succeeded in this. But I want to make a name for myself in this other sport. I don’t want to be just Eric’s little brother.’ I think we all took a lot of pride in making a name for ourselves and I think that’s how we happened to get into five different sports.”
Lisa and Eric Fairman aren’t big believers in kids specializing in a sport at a young age.
“When they were all young kids, we just exposed them to everything and let them choose what they wanted to do,” said Lisa Fairman, who is a substitute teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School. “Here at TJ, we’re very thankful that coaches work together and let kids play multiple sports. They eventually all had a different one they loved.”
Cherpak, also Thomas Jefferson’s athletic director, said there is a common thread between the Fairman five that has driven all of them.
“They’re so ultra-competitive in everything,” Cherpak said. “I coached two of them and know the others.
Their parents weren’t the type to give them anything. They had to earn everything. They never had an easy path to get what they want. Each kid was different in the sport they picked, but they were very similar in the competitive aspect.”
There are legendary stories about the competitiveness in the family.
“We used to play backyard Wiffle ball in our neighbors’ yard all the time,” Hunter said. “We’d be out there every day in the summer and it would always end in a fight. It was always somebody. The first couple innings were at least fun. But when it came down to the wire, the fights started coming.”
Hunter still talks about the time when Alysa got mad, threw a bat at one of her brothers, missed and hit Hunter in the head. Hunter claims he got knocked out.
“Oh yeah, I do remember that now,” Alysa said with a laugh.
But everyone from the kids to Cherpak will tell you that the Fairman children come about the intensity and competitiveness naturally. It’s inherited.
The two I’s in Lisa Fairman’s name are for double intensity. Lisa Fairman, 47, was a 1991 Thomas Jefferson graduate and a threesport athlete (basketball, softball and volleyball). Eric Fairman, 48, who used to be a chef and now is a food salesman, played baseball at Baldwin.
“Our dad loves sports and he’s our No. 1 fan, but he’s a lot more laid back,” said the younger Eric Fairman. “My mom is where we get the intensity, drive and passion.”
You want intensity? Two basketball seasons ago, Lisa Fairman informed her family that she was spending the night at a hotel after a game because she was too distraught after a loss to come home.
“That’s a true story,” young Eric Fairman said,
Hunter Fairman said, “I had a [hockey] game the other day and didn’t play too well. When you come out after and your mom says you sucked at a sport you love, you just use that as motivation.”
Don’t get the wrong impression. Lisa and Eric Fairman are the biggest fans of their children. You could never count the miles they’ve put on cars taking their kids to sporting events, all across the country. And they loved it. Mom might be hard on her kids in sports, but she also beams with pride.
“I know when I was young, I couldn’t go a season without being involved in a sport,” Lisa Fairman said. “Now, what our kids have done has brought so much more to mine and my husband’s lives.”