2020 Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame Inductee: Zach Forbes, Athlete

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2020 and 2021 classes are being inducted into the Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame together this year. Forbes will be inducted on Saturday, Nov. 27 before QHS’s boys basketball game.)

In Quincy High School’s long lineage of outstanding multi-sport athletes, Zach Forbes deserves a spot high on the list.

Playing sweeper for the boys soccer team, the 6-foot-3 Forbes earned all-state honors from the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association and second-team honors from the Chicago Tribune after helping the Blue Devils win their first 15 games and finish with a 19-3-1 mark his senior season in 2009.

Quincy posted 14 shutouts and allowed just 10 goals, which tied for ninth for fewest goals allowed in a season in the Illinois High School Association record books at the end of that season.

As a starting shooting guard for the boys basketball team, Forbes received honorable mention all-state honors from the Associated Press and was the 2010 Herald-Whig Player of the Year after averaging 21.3 points per game and leading the Blue Devils to a 13-0 record at home, the first perfect season at home since the 1991-92 team. He scored in double figures in every game and led the Western Big 6 Conference in scoring at 19.7 points per game.

During a career-high 38-point performance against Hinsdale South, Forbes tied a school record with seven 3-pointers made and he finished his career with 1,095 points, which ranks 16th in school history. Only 21 players have scored 1,000 points at QHS.

Forbes accepted a soccer scholarship to DePaul University, where he played in 35 career matches and was a three-time Big East Conference All-Academic selection. Forbes and his wife, Michelle, live in Chicago.