Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Famer James Forrest returned to The Flats to join the men’s basketball staff as a special assistant to head coach Damon Stoudamire in July of 2024 following a long career involved in grassroots basketball in Atlanta.
Forrest, 52, will leverage his successful Tech and professional playing career, as well as his coaching career at the grassroots level, to support the Yellow Jackets’ program on several levels, from strategies for skill development, player training and conditioning, to practice and game support, to public and community relations for the program.
He founded and operated the James Forrest Sports Academy in Atlanta from 2005-24 and established the Team Forrest AAU basketball program in an effort to prepare carefully selected student-athletes athletically, academically and socially for the rigors of intercollegiate competition and for life after basketball.
As a star player at Tech, Forrest made the All-ACC first team in 1994 and earned third-team honors in 1995. By the time his career ended, he had scored 1,978 points and grabbed 846 rebounds, both of which still rank seventh on Tech’s all-time list, and averaged 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game over his four-year career.
Forrest may be best remembered for his miraculous 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to give Georgia Tech a stunning 79-78 victory over Southern Cal in the second round of the 1992 NCAA Midwest Regional at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wis. Just a few months later, he stunned Louisville with a half-court heave that beat the final horn in an 87-85 victory over Louisville in the first college basketball game ever played at the Georgia Dome.
The Most Outstanding Player in the ACC Tournament in 1993, James Forrest averaged 26.7 points and 7.0 rebounds and hit 69 percent of his shots from the floor to claim the Everett Case Award in 1993. He led Tech to victories over Duke, Clemson and North Carolina to win the program’s third ACC title, and became the first player in 17 years to score 20 or more points in three consecutive tournament games.
He was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in October of 2022.
Professionally, Forrest he played nine years overseas between 1996 and 2005 with teams in Israel, Italy, Greece and Spain.
Forrest was born in Charleston, S.C., but attended South Atlanta High School, where he starred as a prep player and was named Mr. Georgia Basketball in 1990 and 1991 and also was named a McDonald’s All-American before enrolling at Tech, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in management in 1995.
Forrest and his wife Sonia live in Mableton, Ga., and he has two sons, Justin, who played collegiately at Appalachian State and is now playing professionally overseas, and Jalen, who plays collegiately, and daughter Kiarah.
