Developer found a home in Hall of Fame

Chula Vista businessman and philanthropist Jeff Phair, one of Eastlake’s original developers in the early 1980s, was recently inducted into the San Diego Sports Hall of Fame and given the prestigious Bob Breitbard Meritorious

Achievement Award for his lifetime involvement in sports.

A 1970 Hilltop High School graduate who played football, track and baseball, Phair led the Lancer football team as captain and MVP in rushing, total yards and scoring. He is a member of both the Hilltop High School Hall of Fame and the Sweetwater Union High School District Hall of Fame.

The Phair Company has made donations to more than 100 community organizations.

“We’ve helped young people in South Bay who couldn’t afford to go to school to get scholarships or find jobs and save money for college,” Phair said. “Our financial assistance to student athletes is called ‘Pay It Forward Investing.’ All of the hundreds of kids we’ve helped, all we required of them was to sign a pledge to Pay It Forward in the future by helping another student athlete in one of three ways: that sometime in their future career he/she will either provide summer jobs/internships, or provide a needy student with a college scholarship or become a volunteer coach themselves.”