Franklin Lindsay Forbes (March 30, 1891 – August 19, 1983) was a Negro league

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League, and was an American football and basketball coach.

Biography

Nicknamed "''Strangler''" and sometimes appearing as "Joe" Forbes, he played for his hometown team

Philadelphia Giants The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol Whi ...

at the age of 22. He moved on to the Lincoln Stars and Lincoln Giants for a number of years before returning to Pennsylvania. In 1917, 26 year-old Forbes registered for the WWI draft. He listed his occupation as a porter for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was listed as married. He also listed his home address as 200 N. 131st Street in New York City as his home address. And he listed his mother and wife as dependents."WWI Draft Registration Card for Frank Forbes," Precinct 27, Ward 30, New York, New York, June 5, 1917
/ref> Forbes served three stints as the head football coach (1932–1933, 1935–1942, 1945–1949) at

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

in Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse's

Forbes Arena The Forbes Arena is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is home to the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers basketball team. It also hosted basketball preliminary matches during the 1996 Summer Olympics and was the home are ...

is named after him. Forbes died at the age of 92 in his hometown of Philadelphia in 1983.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Frank 1891 births 1983 deaths Morehouse Maroon Tigers basketball coaches Morehouse Maroon Tigers football coaches Lincoln Giants players Philadelphia Giants players Bacharach Giants players Pennsylvania Red Caps of New York players New York Renaissance players African-American coaches of American football Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania African-American baseball players African-American basketball coaches Morehouse College faculty 20th-century African-American sportspeople Baseball players from Philadelphia South Philadelphia High School alumni