In 1949, Forrester began his coaching career at St. Anthony High School in
Effingham, Illinois. He was the high school's first full-time basketball coach. To Thompson, Forrester was a visionary: "He had the courage to look a little ahead of the curve. He played guys who had the ability to get the job done. It didn't matter the color of your skin. That's a tribute to him as a person, that he looked far beyond the situation and had the courage to do what he did in playing guys of color." Bester recalled, "He judged each one of us by the content of our character. He let us know we were not only representing ourselves but our parents, our coach and our school, and he didn't want you to forget that. I loved Coach Harry Forrester and I thank God every day in my life that I knew him." In his first year at Quincy, the basketball team's 17–9 season was the school's best-ever season at the time. They were invited to the quarterfinals of the 1955 NAIA national tournament in
Kansas City, becoming the college's first athletic team to qualify for a national competition. Despite their success, the team was subjected to racial taunts and threats when they played on the road. They were also the only team at the NAIA with African American players. A modern sports writer recalls, "After winning its opening-round game in the 32-school tournament, Quincy lost its next start by four points to a team considered far inferior—but white. Quincy's black players were constantly in foul trouble and the Hawks got few, if any, breaks when it came to officials' calls. To this day, if you ask any of those Quincy players, they will tell you they did not lose the second game of that national tournament. The other team simply wound up with more points on the scoreboard." Quincy replaced Forrester after his third season in 1957. He became a coach and teacher at
Tuscola High School but was fired after a 6-36 record. Later, he was a physical education teacher at Champaign Community Unit 4 schools and a principal a Pesotum Grade School. He was also a high school and college basketball referee, receiving recognition from the Illini Basketball Officials Association "for his outstanding achievement in basketball officiating" in 1989. == Awards and honors ==