Hairston was a member of the NBA champion 1971–72 Lakers; that team won 33 games in a row, a record not duplicated in any other American professional sport.

[1] He graduated from New York University, where he played college basketball for coach Lou Rossini from 1962 to 1964.

With financial help from celebrities such as Kelsey Grammer, the foundation found bright children from broken homes and paid for their college educations.

Hairston also hosted a celebrity golf tournament and had a small role in the 1981 Happy Days episode "Tall Story," where he played the father of an epileptic high school basketball player.

[4] Hairston died in Los Angeles in 2001 from respiratory complications brought on by prostate cancer.