Marcus Gaither (April 26, 1961 – July 16, 2020) was an American-French professional basketball player, who played the guard position. In 1989–90 Gaither led the Israel Basketball Premier League in scoring. He then played in France for 11 years, and he ended his career playing for one season in the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

Personal life

Gaither was born in

Far Rockaway, Queens Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County li ...

, and attended

Far Rockaway High School Far Rockaway High School was a public high school in New York City, at 821 Bay 25th Street in Far Rockaway in the borough of Queens. It operated from 1897 to 2011. Its alumni include three Nobel Prize laureates and convicted fraudster Bernard ...

. He was tall and weighed . In 2008, Gaither was living in

West Caldwell, New Jersey West Caldwell is a township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located approximately west of Manhattan and northwest of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the towns ...

, operating a mortgage company, and officiating at AAU basketball tournaments. He earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

Information Technology Management Information technology management (IT management) is the discipline whereby all of the information technology resources of a firm are managed in accordance with its needs and priorities. Managing the responsibility within a company entails many ...

from

Jones International University Jones International University (JIU) was a private online for-profit university headquartered in Centennial, Colorado. It was accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History In 1987 Glenn R. Jones launched the cable television network Min ...

in 2010. In 2014, he joined the mortgage lending team at the corporate office of The Money Store in

Florham Park, New Jersey Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,585, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 889 (+7.6%) from the 11,696 recorded at ...

. Gaither died in July 2020 at 59 years of age.

Basketball career

Gaither attended and played basketball for

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...

, graduating in 1984 with a B.S. in

Business Management Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

. He played for the

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights refer to the 17 intercollegiate sports teams representing Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan campus in Teaneck & Hackensack, New Jersey. Fairleigh Dickinson's Florham Campus has a different mascot, t ...

in the

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

from 1980 to 1984. He led the team in scoring from 1981 to 1984, and had a career-high 22.9 points per game in the 1982–83 season. He was named to the 1982 ECAC Metro South All-Star basketball team. In 1983 he led the league in scoring, with 22.9 points per game. He set a school record as FDU's all-time leading scorer with 1,815 points, a mark which stood for seven years. In 2016, Gaither ranked second all-time in points, and in 1999 he was third with 369 career assists, and was fifth with 465 field goals made. Gaither was drafted by the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

in the fifth round of the

1984 NBA draft The 1984 NBA draft was the 37th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held at the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, on June 19, 1984, before the 1984–85 season. The draft is generally ...

. He played parts of his first two professional seasons in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) for the Puerto Rico Coquis and Maine Windjammers, averaging 7.6 points over 17 games. Gaither played for the Birmingham Bullets of the British Basketball League in England in the 1987–88 British Basketball League season, 1987–88 season, averaging 35.3 points and 3.5 assists per game, and was named to the BBL Team of the Year. In 1989–90 Gaither played in Israel for Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin, Israeli Basketball Premier League Statistical Leaders, leading the Israel Basketball Premier League in scoring with a 28.6 points per game average. Gaither played in France for 11 years. He played for French basketball team AS Chatou (now Poissy Basket) from 1991 to 1994, averaging 27.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.6 steals per game. He then played for Metropolitans 92, Levallois from 1995 to 1997 and SIG Strasbourg from 1997 to 1998 in LNB Pro A, and Montpellier (1998–99). He ended his career playing for B. Sardegna Sassari in Sardinia in the Italian

in 1998–99.

Honors

Gaither was inducted into Fairleigh Dickinson University's Division I Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaither, Marcus 1961 births 2020 deaths American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in the United Kingdom American men's basketball players British Basketball League players Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's basketball players Far Rockaway High School alumni French men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Lega Basket Serie A players Maine Windjammers players People from Far Rockaway, Queens People from West Caldwell, New Jersey Puerto Rico Coquis players Basketball players from Queens, New York Utah Jazz draft picks 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century French sportsmen