Remembering the Legend: Wes Forbes of Hampton High School
Published 4:33 pm Wednesday, October 19, 2022
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Contributed Photo 1960 Hampton basketball team was honored 60 years later by Hampton High School.
Contributed Photo 1960 Hampton basketball team
Contributed Photo Mayor Rusty Barnett honored Wes, Wille Malone and Jerry white along with the rest of the 1960 team with a resolution.
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BY C.Y. Peters
Elige Wesley Forbes was born on March 30, 1942, in Elizabethton. Forbes hit six of eight free throws in the final quarter to lead the Bulldogs over Union City for the state title. An unbelievable feat for a small team in the 1960s. Forbes finished the game leading the Bulldogs in scoring, with 15 points and thirteen rebounds.
In his senior season for Hampton, Forbes scored 490 points and pulled down 294 rebounds. The Dogs finished the 1960 season with 44 wins with only four losses. After high school, Forbes would go on to serve in the U.S. Navy.
He wanted to quit high school his junior season and join the Navy, but his dad was against it and teamed up with Coach Buck Van Huss to talk him out of it. Buck told Wes, the Navy would always be there, but finishing school must come first.
Before going to the Navy, Forbes had a try-out at Appalachian State in the summer of 1960. He would get the call to play at Appy State but not before he signed up for four years with the Navy. His 1960 Hampton basketball team became known as the “Little Men from the Mountains.” Buck said Carl and Wes were the best at running the scissor.
That meant that one of them would come up while the other would go back. They caused a lot of turnovers, and they ran the scissors perfectly.” “I credit them with winning the Murfreesboro game in the state tournament,” stated Buck in a 1989 interview.
Forbes worked for Averitt Trucking Company where he retired as a maintenance director. He fathered two sons, Wesley and Brian.
He attended many Legends Lunches and was a Carter County Sports Hall of Fame member. Wes and Carl Robertson are credited for starting the Hampton Scholarship Fund for students entering college.
Sadly Elige Wesley Forbes passed away on May 7, 2022, in Orlando, FL.
