Hall of Fame
Men’s Tennis Coach (1948-50, 1972-86)
Bob Fairman’s career as University of Nevada tennis coach spanned five decades beginning with a three-season stint from 1948 through 1950. He resumed the position in 1972 and stayed 15 seasons through 1986. During the 18-year coaching career, Fairman’s teams compiled an impressive 392-83 dual match record (.825 winning percentage). He won the Big Sky Championship and was named the conference coach of the year in 1981, while his team shared the championship the following season. During the six years Nevada competed in the West Coast Athletic Conference in tennis (1974-79), the Wolf Pack finished second behind national powerhouse Pepperdine all six years. In the Big Sky in 1980, the year before his championship, and in 1983 and 1984, the years after his co-championship, Nevada finished second in the conference; therefore for 12 straight seasons Fairman’s teams finished first or second in the WCAC or the Big Sky. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Fairman was director of tennis for the City of Reno. Between that position and his private lessons, he taught literally thousands of Reno residents the game of tennis. He was, until his death July 7, 1989, a pillar of the Reno tennis community, serving as president and as a member of the board of directors of the Reno Tennis Club. He loved fishing and his trademark was his pipe, which he was rarely without, lit or unlit.
