Register Writer Chuck Abair Dies at Age 62

Chuck Abair, Orange County Register sportswriter who has covered Cal State Fullerton sports on and off since 1970, died early Saturday after apparently suffering a heart attack in his Las Cruces hotel room. He would have been 63 next week.

According to Sports Information Director Mel Franks, Abair--here to cover Saturday’s Fullerton-New Mexico State football game--called Titan team doctor Joseph Cummings at about 4 a.m. Saturday complaining of chest pains.

Franks said Cummings referred Abair to trainer Ivan Pierra for medication, but when Cummings called Pierra to check on Abair and discovered that he had never called, the two became concerned and went to Abair’s room.

There was no answer, and the door was locked, so Cummings and Pierra broke it down down and found Abair unconscious. Paramedics arrived and rushed Abair to Memorial Medical Center, but their efforts to revive him, as well as those of Pierra and Cummings, were unsuccessful.

Abair’s wife, Jackie, said her husband had been on medication for high blood pressure but did not have a history of heart problems.

“The hypertension was under control,” Jackie Abair said. “I just spoke to his personal doctor, and he’s flabbergasted. I can’t believe it. If I know Chuck, he doesn’t complain about anything, so for him to call someone at 4 a.m., he had to be in pain.”

Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy, who has known Abair since 1980, was stunned by the news.

“This game was disappointing, but today it was just a game,” Murphy said after the Titans’ 44-31 loss. “I was thinking more about Chuck than football today. . . . He tried to be as non-partisan as possible, but he was a big fan. God bless him.”

Abair had been a sportswriter for some 45 years, including 22 at The Register, where he has covered the Dodgers, Angels, Rams, Chargers, Fullerton and UC Irvine. He covered the Titans’ first football game, against Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 19, 1970.

Before moving to Orange County, Abair worked for papers in Burlington, Vt., Stroudsburg, Pa., Mt. Pleasant, Mich., Pontiac, Mich., Akron, Ohio, and Tulare, Calif.

Besides his wife of 37 years, Abair is survived by five children, Jeannine Hernandez, 36, Danny Abair, 33, Alan Abair, 29, Louise O’Connor, 27, and Carol Abair, 22; two grandchildren, Lisa Hernandez, 14, and Charlie Abair, 10, and two brothers, Raymond, 70, and Frank, 66, of Burlington, Vt.

Funeral arrangements are pending.