Forrest "Fog" Clyde Hamilton (June 16, 1930 – October 7, 2021) was an American basketball player who was a star player for the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

in its back-to-back national championship appearances in 1952 and 1953, also serving as an alternate for the United States at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

, and on the gold medal-winning

1954 FIBA World Championship The 1954 FIBA Basketball World Cup, FIBA World Championship (also called the 2nd World Basketball Championship – 1954) was the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was held by the International Basketball ...

tournament team. He was inducted into the

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1994 by Springfield businessman John Q. Hammons, the Hall of Fame is housed in a two-story, 32,000-square-foot building. On display are more than 4,0 ...

in 1990. He was chosen in the sixth round of the

1953 NBA draft The 1953 NBA draft was the seventh annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on April 24, 1953, before the 1953–54 season. In this draft, nine remaining NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college ba ...

by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

. He later played in the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

with the Peoria Caterpillars. Forrest was born in

Saint Clair, Missouri St. Clair is a city in Franklin County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,791 at the 2020 census. Geography St. Clair is located between the Meramec River to the southeast and the Bourbeuse River to the northwest. Interstate 44 in Mis ...

on June 16, 1930. In later life he became a sales professional for the Chase Bag Company in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. He married Betty Von Hoffmann, with whom he had two children. After this marriage ended, he married Joan Francine Merlo, with whom he moved to

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, for his employer, and had another son. The family later moved to

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...

, again for Hamilton's employer. He died there on October 7, 2021, at the age of 91.

References

1930 births 2021 deaths American men's basketball players People from Franklin County, Missouri University of Missouri alumni FIBA World Championship–winning players 1954 FIBA World Championship players United States men's national basketball team players 20th-century American sportsmen {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub