Stuart Falconer Forbes (December 26, 1876 – July 5, 1958) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the first head football coach at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

, coaching for one season in 1899 and compiling a record of 1–1–1.

Early years

Forbes was born in

Cobden, Illinois Cobden is a village in Union County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt.” The population as of the 2020 census is 1,034, a decline of 10.63% since the 2010 census. Cobden is regional ...

in 1876. He was the son of Henry Clinton Forbes and Jennie Forbes. He attended the University of Illinois, receiving a B.S. degree in architecture in 1898. 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 Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Along with Phi Kappa Psi, Phi ...

and the Shield & Trident.

University of Arizona

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 The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac- ...

team. During the 1899 season, Forbes coached the team to a record of 1–1–1. The team won its first football game over a Tucson Town team by a score of 5–0. 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 Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

). At the time of the 1900 U.S. Census, Forbes was living in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, where he was employed as a draftsman.

Later years

In 1907 and 1908, Forbes was living in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

, where he was employed as the chief draftsman or structural draftsman for the firm of Russell & Babcock. By 1910, he had moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

where he was employed as a draftsman with Frank Allen Inc. As of 1913, he was still living in Seattle. At the time of the 1910 U.S. Census, Forbes was living in

with his mother and sister. He was employed as an architect. As of 1918, Forbes was living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

where he was employed as a supervising engineer for construction quality management at a U.S. government cold storage warehouse. In 1925, Forbes published a book titled ''Trail Sketches: Word Pictures of the West''. At the time of the 1940 U.S. Census, he was living in

Port Madison, Washington The Port Madison Native Reservation is an Indigenous Reservation in the U.S. state of Washington belonging to the Suquamish Tribe, a federally recognized indigenous nation and signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. Location The reserv ...

, with his wife Mary L. Forbes. 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 King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

. Forbes died in July 1958 at

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

, at age 86.Death record for Stuart Falconer Forbes, born about 1872, death date July 5, 1958. Ancestry.com. Washington, Deaths, 1883-1960 atabase on-line

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Stuart 1876 births 1959 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football fullbacks Arizona Wildcats football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players People from Union County, Illinois Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Illinois