Background
Forbes was born in Cobden, Illinois in 1876. He was the son of Henry Clinton Forbes and Jennie Forbes.
Forbes was born in Cobden, Illinois in 1876. He was the son of Henry Clinton Forbes and Jennie Forbes.
He attended the University of Illinois, receiving a Bachelor of Surgery degree in architecture in 1898.
He served as the first head football coach at the, coaching for one season in 1899 and compiling a record of 2–1–1. After graduating from Illinois, Forbes moved to Arizona. In 1899, he volunteered as the coach for the newly organized football team at the Forbes became the first head coach of what would become the Arizona Wildcats football team
During the 1899 season, Forbes coached the team to a record of 2–1–1.
A rematch resulted in a scoreless tie. The team next defeated a team from the Tucson Indian School before ending the season with an 11–2 loss against Tempe Normal School (later known as Arizona State).
At the time of the 1900 United States. Census, Forbes was living in Tucson, Arizona, where he was employed as a draftsman. In 1907 and 1908, Forbes was living in Tacoma, Washington, where he was employed as the chief draftsman or structural draftsman for the firm of Russell & Babcock.
By 1910, he had moved to Seattle where he was employed as a draftsman with Frank Allen Incorporated.
As of 1913, he was still living in Seattle. He was employed as an architect. As of 1918, Forbes was living in Chicago where he was employed as a supervising engineer for construction quality management at a United States. government cold storage warehouse.
In 1925, Forbes published a book titled Trail Sketches: Word Pictures of the West.
He was employed as the supervising engineer for a building construction company. In November 1942, Forbes was married to Mary L. Miller by a Justice of the Peace at the courthouse in King County, Washington.
Forbes died in July 1958 at Bainbridge Island, Washington, at age 86.
While attending Illinois, he was the editor-in-chief of the Technograph, a fullback on the varsity football team, and a member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Shield & Trident.