Gary Forrest was born in Dayton on November 11, 1953 to Jim and Irene Forrest. He had one brother Jim and two sisters, Irma and Mary.
After graduating from Huffman Elementary, Gary went with his older brother Jim to baseball tryouts for the Stivers Summer League team, and made the squad as an eighth grader Two weeks later, he pitched his first game for the Tigers against Carroll High School, a 4 to 2 Stivers win. His first time at bat, Gary hit a 400’ home run.
In Gary’s freshman summer, pro scouts from the Phillies organization talked to him about his future and told him they were very interested in his career. The scouts said they would like for him to attend their tryout camp when the time came.
Gary also played basketball his freshman and sophomore years at Stivers, averaging 18 points per game. In his sophomore year, he broke an ankle and never fully recovered to play basketball again.
Gary worked very hard to rehab the ankle so that he could continue with baseball. In the spring of his junior year, he pitched a no-hitter and struck out 18 batters their first game of the season. The second game was against West Carrollton High School which was a AAA school. Stivers was the only AA school to beat them that year. The write up in the Dayton Daily News read “West Carrollton couldn’t see the trees for the Forrest”.
Later that year he developed bursitis in his pitching arm and was never contacted again by the Phillies scouts.
Gary was named to the All-City Honorable Mention Team his junior year as an infielder, and made the All-City First Team his senior year as a third baseman with a
.438 batting average.
After graduation from Stivers, Gary moved to Kentucky where he lives today on his family farm, owned since 1879. There he worked as a pipe fitter and welder for 20 years. Gary met his wife Cathy in 1992 and they married in 1998. He retired at the age of 54 to care for his mother and maintain the farm. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hunting, and traveling.