Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 18, 1991 TAG: 9103180050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Instead, by chance, Dwight Forrester was guiding his Cumberland team on Saturday afternoon in the Group A basketball championship game. His team lost 55-53 to Lebanon.
His arrival in Cumberland was by accident. "I had been playing [semipro] ball in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Argentina and other places in South America," Forrester said. "My wife and I got tired of that, so we started sending out applications for teaching jobs in the states."
His wife landed a position in Farmville, which is not that far from Cumberland. Forrester wasn't as lucky, so he started driving rigs when they moved to central Virginia.
"Two years ago, I was going to work and someone told me Cumberland was looking for a coach," said Forrester. "So I applied and got the job."
Now he teaches vocational education and his first team last year just missed making the state as the best team in its district behind Fluvanna County, which won its second consecutive Group A crown.
On the sidelines, the 6-foot-6 Forrester, who could pass for a defensive lineman in the NFL, dresses in a dark suit adorned by red suspenders and red shoes. He carries a towel and might be mistaken for Georgetown's John Thompson because of his size.
The red shoes are special. "I had yellow, green, blue and red shoes when I was playing in Haiti," said Forrester. "Someone stole all my shoes but the red ones. Now I wear them for the big games. The red suspenders match the shoes."
He is all emotion, often sitting back in his seat and looking toward the heavens when an official's call goes against his team or when one of his players doesn't do what he's supposed to do.
Unlike Thompson, he uses the towel for more than just wiping sweat and carrying it on his shoulder as he stalks the sidelines. He puts in on the floor when he kneels down to coach his team so that he doesn't muss the material of his suit around his knees.
When things are going good, Forrester is laughing and joking on the bench. He doesn't wear a permanent scowl like so many of his contemporaries in college do.
Forrester's system is patterned after Temple coach John Chaney, the man he played for from 1981 through 1985. "Everything I do is from him," admits Forrester.
"I talk to him a lot. But he won't recruit any of my players. I don't have any big guys."
Unlike Chaney and Thompson, this coach seems human. However, his players, like those under Chaney and Thompson, do it Forrester's way or not at all. "I'm free to do what I want," said Cumberland point guard Tyrone Mosby. "As long it's within the system."
Despite only two losses during the regular season, Cumberland didn't make it in the state rankings until late into the winter. "We're so small and there's no newspaper our way to give us a vote," said Forrester. "I don't want to be too well known. We're just here hoping to creep into the finals."
Cumberland won a state title in 1985 and two in the late 1970s. One writer recalls hearing stories that some of the players on those teams might have moved in from New York.
But the only one connected with Cumberland's program from the north is Forrester, who played high school basketball at Annapolis, Md.
"Our guys have been playing together since eighth grade. They can read each other's minds," says Forrester of his squad.
Did they come up through sandlot ball? "Sandlots?" he said. "There's no such thing around us. They all played on the one outdoor court in the county."
by CNB