Terrence C. A. "Terry" Blair, son of former Orioles center fielder Paul Blair, died Tuesday afternoon at Union Memorial Hospital, where he was being treated for a blood clot in his leg.
The 29-year-old Baltimore resident was receiving blood-thinning medication for the blood clot at the time of his death, family members said.
"He was admitted on Sunday and he passed away sometime yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon," said hospital spokesman Pete Kerzel. He declined to comment on the cause of death.
At the request of his family, Blair's body was taken to the state medical examiners office for an autopsy to determine the official cause of death.
"It's just something you have to fight through and deal with," Paul Blair said yesterday from his home in Owings Mills. "It's very, very, very difficult.
"I talked to him Monday night and we left him at 8:30, just before Monday night football, and everything was fine," Blair said. "When we took him into the hospital, they knew there was a clot and the doctors told him that he was lucky he got in there when he did because it was serious, but he never knew the real danger he was in."
Gloria Blair, Terry's stepmother, said she talked to Terry shortly before noon on Tuesday and moments later was summoned to the hospital by Terry's wife.
"One minute I'm talking to him and he's laughing and joking, and 10 minutes later I get a call from his wife telling me he went into [cardiac] arrest," she said.
Terry Blair recently had celebrated his marriage to Jacquetta White, the birth of their first child -- 5-week-old Tara -- and the purchase of a new home.
He was employed as a bail bondsman by Fred Frank Bail Bonds, where he had begun working shortly after graduating from Pikesville High School in 1983.
At Pikesville, Terry alternated at quarterback and safety in football, played left field in baseball and was a 6-foot-3 forward in basketball.
Mike Brunner, who coached Terry in baseball and basketball at Pikesville, remembers him as a three-sport standout.
"Facially, he looked similar to his father and they both had that same smile," said Brunner. "He was very popular among the students, and he played three sports and he played them well.
"He had the kind of personality that when you went in the cafeteria, he would be almost holding court there. He liked to joke and he loved to make others laugh and have a good time."
In addition to the aforementioned family members, he is survived by his mother, Evelyn Blair of Elmira, N.Y.; a daughter, Erica; two sons, Terrence Jr., and Keith; two brothers, Kevin and Lance; and a sister, Paula.
Services are set for 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the March Funeral Home at 4300 Wabash Ave. in Baltimore.