R.I.P. Jack Fairs

Former London Majors catcher and Western University legend Jack Fairs passed away on Monday at the age of 98. Photo: London Majors

August 31, 2021

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Jack Fairs, who was the last living member of the Intercounty Baseball League’s London Majors 1948 championship team, passed away on Monday at the age of 98.

Fairs was the catcher on the Majors squad that defeated a team from Fort Wayne, Ind., at Labatt Park in 1948 to win the National Baseball Congress Canadian-American championship series. That Majors team was the only Canuck squad to ever defeat a U.S. club in the history of the event.

The Majors also won the Intercounty Baseball League championship and the Canadian Baseball Congress crown that season. A plaque was just unveiled at Labatt Park last week that honours that legendary squad.

Fairs played for parts of six seasons with the Majors, but prior to his tenure with the IBL squad, he caught for the semi-pro Welland Atlas Steels, of the Niagara District Baseball League. He started with them as a teen playing against players much older than him, but he evolved into one of the circuit’s top players. In 1944, he earned league MVP honours and led Welland to the Ontario Baseball Senior A title. One of the pitchers he caught that season was future New York Giants ace and big league all-star Sal Maglie.

Fairs told Paul Mayne, for his excellent article on Game Day London published in April, that he was later offered professional contracts by the Chicago Cubs and Brooklyn Dodgers, but he opted to stay in London and continue his teaching career.

An inaugural London Sports Hall of Fame inductee in 2002, Fairs was born in Toronto, but raised in Tillsonburg, Ont., where he starred in several sports, including soccer, football and baseball before attending Western University in 1942. He played for the school’s basketball and football teams, while earning a degree in Chemistry.

He later attended Columbia University to secure his Master’s in Physical Education and then returned to teach and coach at Western for more than 50 years. Fairs is considered one of the founders of the university’s physical education program and at various times in his long tenure at Western, he coached the football, basketball, tennis, baseball and squash teams.

But Fairs is best known for his more than four decades coaching the Mustangs squash team and for transforming the university into a powerhouse in the sport. A Western news release states that starting in 1970, Fairs’ squash teams won 31 OUA team titles and 21 singles titles.

Jack Fairs at a recent London Majors alumni function. Photo: London Majors

After teaching for 42 years, he retired in 1988, but he still regularly visited the campus.

A book about his life titled, A Fairs to Remember: The Life & Times of Happy Jack, was written by Sandy Lubert and published last year.

Fairs is survived by his wife, Peigi, his children and his grandchildren.