April 21, 2016
Bay Forrest Visits Glendive
Ex-NBA Player Forrest Hosts Clinic at DCC
Ex-NBA player Bay Forrest, in conjunction with the Bucs and Lady Bucs, held a free clinic for local kids ages 7-16 years old last Thursday. Close to 150 kids showed up for the training. The participants learned dribbling, passing, shooting, lay-ups, agility and defensive skills in small groups. Forrest also took some time with the older kids to teach them special rebounding tricks he had learned during his playing days.
The 6'10" Forrest was one of the most sought after recruits in the country when he was in high school during the 1970's. Over 150 college coaches were recruiting him including Bobby Knight at Indiana and John Wooden at UCLA. In the end, he narrowed his choices to Oregon State, Arizona State and Hawaii before choosing his dad's alma mater, Grand Canyon College in Phoenix. He led his team to a National Championship and was named the National Player of the Year before being drafted into the NBA. He played two seasons for the Phoenix Suns, helping them reach the Western Conference Finals in 1979 before losing in 7 games to the Seattle Supersonics. During the following off-season Forrest hurt his back and was forced to retire from basketball. After his career, he spent 7 years as a youth pastor and 5 years serving as a missionary in Kenya.
After the 2 hour clinic, the participants were all given pizza and Forrest gave a 45 minute talk to a crowd of over 400 that included the kids, their parents, college students and other members of the community. He used stories from his career to share with people what the most important thing in his life is.
Forrest is hoping to come back to Glendive in October and bring along with him one of his friends, Joe Odhiambo, who is the premier ball-handler in the world.
