Thomas Jefferson’s Fairman receives WPIAL scholarship

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, April 30, 2018 | 4:09 PM

The honors keep rolling in for Thomas Jefferson senior Garret Fairman.

Fairman, a three-sport standout, is one of 21 student-athletes to be awarded $1,000 from the WPIAL in its annual scholar-athlete scholarship program.

He is the third WPIAL scholarship recipient from TJ, joining 2005 graduate Evan Browne ($5,000) and 2006 graduate Patrick Graham ($500).

“It is an honor,” Fairman said. “It is hard to put into words how grateful I am and how thankful I am to win this award.”

Fairman will continue his football career at Robert Morris under first-year coach Bernard Clark, who added eight players to his first recruiting class on national signing day.

A 6-foot-2, 185-pound wide receiver/defensive back, Fairman was recruited to play safety by the Colonials. He plans to major in accounting in college.

“I thought (RMU) was the best fit for me,” said Fairman, who was an all-conference selection on offense and defense. “The new coaching staff is changing the culture of that program in the right direction, and I really wanted to be part of it.”

Fairman recently was selected to play in the PSFCA East-West all-star game to be held May 6 at Altoona's Mansion Park Stadium.

Last fall, he helped spark the Thomas Jefferson football team to its to third consecutive WPIAL football championship.

Fairman led the Jaguars with 51 catches for 948 yards and 11 touchdowns. He averaged 18.6 yards per catch, with his longest reception covering 78 yards.

He also ranked second in scoring with 14 touchdowns (84 points), including two via punt returns.

He will end his athletic career at TJ as a three-year letterman in football, basketball and baseball.

The WPIAL received 136 total applicants for its 2017-18 scholar-athlete scholarship award, which is sponsored and funded by the WPIAL board of directors, WPIAL/James Collins Scholarship Trust Fund and Come Ready Nutrition.

Along with Fairman, the boys winners were Mars' Robby Carmody, Winchester Thurston's Tristan Forsythe, North Allegheny's Mason Gonzalez, Central Valley's Brendan Jugan, OLSH's Christopher Kocent, Gateway's John Kromka, Mapletown's Dylan Rush and Deer Lakes' Joshua Solomon.

The girls winners were Yough's Hannah Bach, Knoch's Carlita Bozzo, Freeport's Claire Crytzer, Armstrong's Kenzie Lasher, Hopewell's Carinna Lapson, Quaker Valley's Franziska Nace, North Allegheny's Clara Savchik, West Allegheny's Ashley Seamon, Upper St. Clair's Savannah Shaw, Mt. Lebanon's Celia Tandon and Oakland Catholic's Sophia Young.

The WPIAL goal for the award is to recognize and honor senior student-athletes who excel in athletics, academics and school/community service involvement.

Recipients are selected based on three criteria: athletics (50 percent), academics (35 percent) and school/community service (15 percent).

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.