Former Georgia basketball star Terry Fair has passed away at the age of 59, the school announced.
Fair, who was a four-year starter for the Bulldogs, was a key player on Georgia’s 1983 final four team.
According to the university, Fair died on Thursday of natural causes. He passed away in his hometown of Macon, Georgia.
A 6-foot-7 forward, Fair was selected in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers.
He went on to play professionally in Israel for a decade and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
From UGA Sports Communications:
Fair arrived in Athens in the fall of 1979 as a centerpiece of what was then the Bulldogs’ greatest recruiting class ever along with Dominique Wilkins, Derrick Floyd and Lamar Heard. Fair was a consensus All-American as a senior at Southwest Macon High School after he led the Patriots to the 1979 national championship while averaging 21.1 points and 15.2 rebounds per game.
Fair, Wilkins, Heard and Floyd helped lead the Bulldogs reach numerous firsts during their careers. Georgia earned its first postseason bid ever in 1981 with an invitation to the NIT. The Bulldogs returned to the NIT in 1982 and advanced to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
In 1983, Georgia secured its first-ever invitation to the NCAA Tournament after winning the SEC Tournament. Fair was named the championship game’s MVP by CBS after scoring 19 points in the title tilt against Alabama.
Fair and the Bulldogs, to pull off their historic 1983 run, took down St. John’s in the Sweet Sixteen before facing UNC, a team that featured four future NBA players – Michael Jordan, Kenny Smith, Brad Daughtery and Sam Perkins.
In the Sweet Sixteen win over St. John’s, Fair was unstoppable. He scored 27 points, had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks in the 70-67 win over eventual NBA Hall of Famer Chris Mullin and St. John’s.
Georgia eventually fell to NC State in the Final Four. The Wolfpack would go on to win the 1983 NCAA Tournament, led by legendary coach Jimmy V.
At the conclusion of Fair’s collegiate career, he was the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in steals (194) and games played (123). He also ranked No. 2 in rebounds (923), No. 4 in points (1,492) and No. 9 in assists (177).
Years later, Fair’s 923 rebounds still ranks No. 2 in school history.
“Terry was a player who never thought about ‘me.’ He was always thinking about the team,” said Hugh Durham, Fair’s coach at Georgia. “He played so hard defensively and would do whatever you asked him to do for the team. Those are the things that I remember most about him as a player.”
Fair’s decision to stay in-state and play for Georgia was a monumental factor in making the Bulldogs a relevant basketball program.
Together, he, Dominique Wilkins, Vern Fleming, James Banks and team captain Lamar Heard (who passed away in 2017) put Georgia basketball on the map for arguably the first time in the program’s history.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Fair’s family and the entire Georgia basketball community.