Wendall Forbes

Wendall Forbes
Biographical details
Born	January 22, 1927; Melrose, Massachusetts, USA
Died	July 31, 1997 (aged 70); Burlington, Massachusetts, USA
Alma mater	Middlebury College
Playing career
1947–1951	Middlebury
Position(s)	Forward / Defenseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Ice Hockey
1962–1964	Middlebury (assistant)
1964–1986	Middlebury
Head coaching record
Overall	248–233–18 (.515)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
	1975 Edward Jeremiah Award

Wendall Francis Forbes was an American college coach for the baseball, football, golf and ice hockey teams at Middlebury College. He was the head coach men's ice hockey team for 22 years and was the Division III coach of the year in 1975.

Career

Forbes graduated from Melrose High School in 1945 and joined the Navy for the tail end of World War II. He left the service in 1946 and entered Bridgton Academy before matriculating to Middlebury College. After graduating in 1951, Forbes played in the St. Louis Cardinals organization for six years before ending his playing career and turned to coaching.[1]

He first worked at Northfield High School but quickly transitioned to the college ranks. At Norwich University he was a baseball coach, assistant football coach and the head coach for the freshman hockey team. He returned to Middlebury in 1962 and worked in several positions over the next 25 years. In 1964 Duke Nelson stepped down as the coach of the ice hockey team and allowed Forbes to take over. 'Wendy' took over the program just as it was transitions from ECAC Hockey into the second-tier ECAC 2. His team won the inaugural conference crown with a record of 11–2 and was able to lead the team to winning records most years. After a particularly poor year in 1974, Forbes got his team to rebound and won the first playoff game in team history. For the stark turnaround, Forbes received the Edward Jeremiah Award.[2]

After a slight lull in 1976, Middlebury became one of the top teams in ECAC 2 for the remainder of the decade. In 1979 the Panthers equaled the program high of 19 wins and captured the Western league championship with a 4–2 win over Norwich.[3] Middlebury would have received an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, which was only in its second edition, however, Middlebury's primary conference was the NESCAC and league bylaws prohibited member schools from participating in national tournaments at the time.[4]

After another strong season in 1980, Forbes' team declined sharply and remained near the bottom of the league standings for the next several seasons. As the Panthers began to recover in the mid-80s, Forbes led the program through a second transition as virtually all of the Division II level was dropped down to D-III. He also help shepherd the team through a strange season when ECAC 2 formally split into two regional conferences (East and West). Forbes stepped down as the team's head coach in 1986 and retired.

He was inducted into the Melrose High Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995, the same year that he was able to see his successor, Bill Beaney, lead the Panthers to their first National Championship. He died in 1997 at the age of 70 and was survived by his two daughters, Cathy and Donna, as well as four grandchildren.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Middlebury Panthers (ECAC 2) (1964–1985)
1964–65	Middlebury	14–8–0	11–2–0	1st
1965–66	Middlebury	12–12–0	7–5–0	6th
1966–67	Middlebury	11–10–0	8–3–0	3rd	ECAC 2 Semifinals
1967–68	Middlebury	11–10–1	8–4–1	7th
1968–69	Middlebury	9–13–0	6–7–0	15th
1969–70	Middlebury	15–10–0	11–5–0	T–8th	ECAC 2 Semifinals
1970–71	Middlebury	11–13–0	7–10–0	19th
1971–72	Middlebury	7–12–2	4–6–2	15th
1972–73	Middlebury	11–11–1	9–7–0	T–10th	ECAC 2 Quarterfinals
1973–74	Middlebury	7–14–0	3–13–0	19th
1974–75	Middlebury	15–7–1	10–4–1	4th	ECAC 2 Semifinals
1975–76	Middlebury	12–11–0	7–8–0	17th
1976–77	Middlebury	15–6–1	11–4–1	8th
1977–78	Middlebury	16–6–0	11–3–0	T–5th	ECAC 2 West Runner-Up
1978–79	Middlebury	19–6–1	14–4–1	T–6th	ECAC 2 West Champion
1979–80	Middlebury	16–7–3	11–5–3	9th	ECAC 2 West Semifinals
1980–81	Middlebury	7–15–1	4–13–1	25th
1981–82	Middlebury	9–11–3	6–9–2
1982–83	Middlebury	11–12–1	7–9–1	18th	ECAC 2 West Semifinals
1983–84	Middlebury	10–12–1	5–11–1	22nd
1984–85	Middlebury	8–14–1	5–12–1	23rd
Middlebury:		239–220–17	165–144–15
Middlebury Panthers (ECAC East) (1985–1986)
1985–86	Middlebury	9–13–1	6–9–1	10th
Middlebury:		9–13–1	6–9–1
Total:		248–233–18
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

References

"Obituary for WENDELL F. FORBES, 1927-1997 (Aged 70)". Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
"American Hockey Coaches Association". Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. Retrieved 2012-07-11.
"Middlebury College Men's Hockey History" (PDF). Middlebury Panthers. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
"Bowdoin College Men's Hockey History" (PDF). Bowdoin Polar Bears. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

External links

Find a Grave

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[1] "Obituary for WENDELL F. FORBES, 1927-1997 (Aged 70)". Newspapers.com. Retrieved October 25, 2021.

[AHCA_list-2] "American Hockey Coaches Association". Archived from the original on 2010-01-16. Retrieved 2012-07-11.

[3] "Middlebury College Men's Hockey History" (PDF). Middlebury Panthers. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

[4] "Bowdoin College Men's Hockey History" (PDF). Bowdoin Polar Bears. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.

Middlebury Panthers men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Duke Nelson Arena (1950–1999) Kenyon Arena (1999–Present)
Head coaches	Erwin Drost (1922–1924) John Leary (1924–1925) William McLaughlin (1925–1926) Carleton Simmons (1926–1928) Roy Clogston (1928–1929) Richard Phelan (1929–1932) Duke Nelson (1932–1936, 1946–1964) John Nash (1936–1940) George Ackerstrom (1940–1942) George Phinny (1942–1943) Wendall Forbes (1964–1986) Bill Beaney (1986–2002, 2003–2015) Neil Sinclair (2002–2003, 2015–Present)
Seasons	1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2021–22 2022–23
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League (1950–1959) ECAC Hockey (1962–1964) ECAC 2 (1964–1985) ECAC East (1985–2000) NESCAC (2000–Present)
All-time leaders	Phil Latreille (250 goals) Phil Latreille (346 points)
National championships	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2004 2005 2006
Frozen Four appearances	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
NCAA Tournament appearances	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2010
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC 2: 1979 ECAC East: 1991 NESCAC: 2000 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2010
Sid Watson winners	Ray Alcindor Ian Smith Mark Spence Kevin Cooper
Middlebury College Middlebury, VT