Crawford William Fairbrother (1 December 1936 – 23 November 1986) was a Scottish

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er who competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Biography

Fairbrother was born in

Paisley, Renfrewshire Paisley ( ; ; ) is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes, the town borders the city of Glasgow to the east, and straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River ...

, Scotland, and his father was Scottish Athletics Championship medallist in high jump in the 1920s and 1930s. Fairbrother won a record 13 successive Scottish titles in the high jump from 1957 to 1969, the best post-war championship record by any Scot. He also won the British AAA Championship titles in

1959 AAA Championships The 1959 AAA Championships was the 1959 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA). It was held from 10 to 11 July 1959 at White City Stadium White City Stadiu ...

1961 AAA Championships The 1961 AAA Championships was the 1961 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 14 to 15 July 1961 at White City Stadium in London, England. Summary The ...

and

1964 AAA Championships The 1964 AAA Championships was the 1964 edition of the annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA). It was held from 10 to 11 July 1964 at White City Stadium in London, England. Summary The ...

. Fairbrother first competed internationally at the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. Representing Scotland, he finished in seventh place in the final of the

with a jump of . One month later at the

1958 European Athletics Championships The 6th European Athletics Championships were held from 19–24 August 1958 in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, Olympic Stadium of Stockholm, Sweden. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Medal summary C ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden, Fairbrother, representing Great Britain in the

, finished tenth in the final clearing . At the

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Fairbrother failed to make the qualifying height of in the

. Two years later at the

1962 European Athletics Championships The 7th European Athletics Championships were held from 12–16 September 1962 in the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the ''Glasgow Herald''. Just before the m ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, Fairbrother in the

cleared . Two months later at the

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, Fairbrother finished eighth in the

clearing the bar at . At the

1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonweal ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, Fairbrother recorded his best international result finishing fourth in the

clearing the bar at . At his final international meet, the

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all eve ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Fairbrother took the oath of behalf of the competitors at the opening ceremony. The following day in the

, Fairbrother failed to make the final. He represented Britain on a record 53 occasions and placed in the top three 35 times. He cleared the height of on more than 200 occasions. He set three United Kingdom and five Scottish records, the best being set in September 1964, a mark which stood until 1975. Fairbrother died on 23 November 1986 in his hometown Paisley, eight days short of his 50th birthday. He survived by his wife Rena, daughter Karen and son Kenneth. A service was held on 26 November 1986 at St. John's Church, Paisley and he was cremated during a private service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbrother, Crawford 1936 births 1986 deaths Sportspeople from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish male high jumpers British male high jumpers Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games 20th-century Scottish sportsmen