Harry Forrester

Harry Conway Forrester (August 19, 1922 – July 16, 2008) was an American basketball coach who led the way in integrating the sports teams of Quincy University in the racially segregated 1950s. When Quincy played at the NAIA (now NCAA) national tournament in 1955, it was the only team with African American members.

Forrester was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Quincy University Hall of Fame. He was the high school's first full-time basketball coach.

To Thompson, Forrester was a visionary: "He had the courage to look a little ahead of the curve. He played guys who had the ability to get the job done. It didn't matter the color of your skin. That's a tribute to him as a person, that he looked far beyond the situation and had the courage to do what he did in playing guys of color." Bester recalled, "He judged each one of us by the content of our character. He let us know we were not only representing ourselves but our parents, our coach and our school, and he didn't want you to forget that. I loved Coach Harry Forrester and I thank God every day in my life that I knew him."

In his first year at Quincy, the basketball team's 17–9 season was the school's best-ever season at the time.

Forrester's life was chronicled in Blaw, Hunter, Blaw Thy Horn: A Memoir, published by his son Gary Forrester in 2011.

Personal life Forrester married Alma Rose Grundy on August 14, 1945, in Morrisonville Illinois. They were high school sweethearts. The couple had five children, Gary, Nancy, Rita, James, and Rose.

He was a member of the Knight of Columbus, the St. Vincent DePaul Society, and St. Matthew Catholic Church in Champaign. He also was a hospice volunteer at Mercy Hospital. He played in the Champaign Park District's Golden Gloves softball league well into his seventies.

Forrester died in 2008 at the age of 85.