Major. D.Stuart Forbes was inducted to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
Born Duncan Stuart Forbes in Toronto in 1889, he made the McGill football team in his freshman year (1907) despite his 5-foot-6, 132-pound frame. Forbes also starred on the basketball team which won a championship in 1909-10, and competed in track & field, boxing, wrestling, soccer, softball and skiing. He won countless honours in cross country running, took an active part in intramural sports and graduated from McGill with degrees in engineering in 1911 and in architecture in 1915. He lectured in physics, structural engineering and architecture.
He was decorated with the Military Cross after distinguished service in World War I as an artillery officer and earned the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed director of athletics at McGill in 1923, serving in this capacity for 17 years - interrupted by a return to the military in World War II - until retiring in 1946. Known to all as "The Major", he served as a director, manager and coach in many sports. He revived interest in English rugby and soccer, and introduced golf, rowing and sailing.
An innovator, Forbes had a hand in almost everything, designing new playing techniques, creating advertising stunts, raising money and maneuvering gifts. Constantly looking to improve McGill's athletics facilities and Molson Stadium, he had the seating arrangements entirely rebuilt, installed the first outdoor lighting system in Canada, installed a public address system and even brought in a flock of sheep once in an attempt to improve the grass!
A talented designer, he arranged for many coloured flags to fly at all football games and around the campus and created McGill's decorations during Royal Visits in 1939 and 1951.
He came up with the popular idea of having red and white McGill blazers, student coupons and season tickets for Molson Stadium. He founded and served as president of the International Intercollegiate Ice Hockey League with Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Queen's, Toronto and McGill. He also served as the intercollegiate representative to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, secretary of the CIAU, president of the Quebec branch of the Amateur Athletic Union, and president of the Quebec Rugby Football Union.
Forbes was instrumental in obtaining much for McGill undergrads, forming the Students' Athletics Council, the Redbirds Ski Club for alumni, the Scarlet Key Society and the Martlet Society. His extramural activities were so numerous and so diversified as almost to defy classification, yet all were linked closely with his life at McGill. He was a life member of the McGill Faculty Club and an honourary life member of the McGill Graduates' Society. He was a member of the Ascension Fish and Game Club, the Provincial Fish and Game Association, the YMCA, MAAA, Arts Club of Montreal, Psi Upsilon fraternity and the Canadian Club.
When the Second World War broke out, he obtained leave of absence from the university and became senior machine gun officer for Canada. He was again raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and received the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) and a Doctor of Education (E.D.)
McGill officials named Forbes Field on campus is his honour and the Students' Athletics Council offered the Forbes Trophy, presented annually to the McGill male athlete of the year. He died on May 1, 1965 at the age of 75 in Queen Mary's Veterans Hospital in Montreal following a lengthy illness.
