The
amazing life of Gene 'Ace' Forman, ended Aug. 20, 2023.
He died
at 79-years-old in a Salem, Oregon, assisted living home from a variety of
health complications.
Floyd
Eugene Forman Jr., was born June 22, 1944, in North Bend, Oregon. At age 5 he
moved with his family to Toledo, Lewis County, Washington, where he grew up
working on the family farm.
Gene
graduated from Toledo High School in 1962.
In 1967
he earned a B.S. degree and in 1968 a M.Ed. degree from Linfield College,
McMinnville, Oregon.
Gene’s
Toledo High football coach was the legendary Ted Hippi, who graduated from
Toledo in 1932 and Linfield in 1940.
Gene’s
friend and Toledo High teammate, M. Gary Olson (Linfield B.S. 1964, M.Ed. 1965),
attended, graduated and played football at Linfield.
Both
Coach Hippi and Gary encouraged Gene to attend Linfield. Gene was forever
grateful he did.
Competing
for Toledo, Gene lettered in football, basketball and baseball (outstanding
pitcher and hitter) as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. In basketball
he was a district all-star first teamer and played at state as a senior. He
even competed in track when it didn’t conflict with baseball.
At
Linfield, Gene was a 6-foot-5, 255-pound starting tackle (and punter) winning
All-Northwest Conference and Little All-American football honors. His Linfield
football coach was Paul Durham. The Linfield Wildcats won conference championships
Gene’s two seasons, 1964 and 1965.
In 1965 he was a starter on the Wildcats team which played for
the NAIA national championship in Georgia. Gene was the biggest player on the
offensive line and, tackle to tackle, considered the team’s best offensive lineman,
said then Linfield sports information director George Murdock Jr., Toledo High
and Linfield (M.Ed. 1966) grad, in a Longview, Wash., Daily News story.
In 2010,
when the 1965 Linfield football team was enshrined in the Linfield Athletics
Hall of Fame, Gene spoke for it at the enshrinement banquet.
Sports Illustrated magazine said Gene Forman of Linfield was
“big and fast.” Professional scouts had their eye on him. But, Gene’s dream of
playing professional football ended at age 21 in an August 1965 McMinnville auto
accident which paralyzed him from the waist down. He was in a wheelchair the
rest of his life.
After the
1966 Linfield football season — in which he did not play due to his paralysis —
he shared the Linfield football team’s most inspirational player award with
teammate Odis Avritt, a running back.
‘AC’ was a
nickname given to him by Linfield classmates who, like Gene, lived in the
McMinnville Fire Department “fire hall.” In return for room and board, those
living there were volunteer firefighters. AC stood for Alley Cat. Many
shortened AC to ‘Ace.’
His
career as a football coach and teacher was amazing and inspirational. He did
not let his dream of coaching and teaching be sidelined by his disability.
Gene’s
first teaching job was at Riddle High School in southern Oregon’s Douglas
County. He was an assistant football coach there for one year. The second year
he became the head coach and led the Riddle football team for 19 years.
After
Riddle, he was head football coach for 14 years at Days Creek High School. Days
Creek, also in southern Oregon’s Douglas County, is about 12 miles from Riddle.
His 1981
Riddle team played for the state championship as did his 1996 Days Creek team.
He was an
assistant coach of the winning East team in the 1982 East-West Shrine All-Star
football game played in Baker.
In
2000-2001, he served as president of the Oregon Athletic Coaches Assn.
Gene’s
friends said he was a great person, a great coach and a positive role model.
His players were taught valuable life lessons on perseverance, positive
attitude, goal setting, tolerance and a strong work ethic. He loved his players
and the players loved him.
Gene is
the namesake of Linfield’s ‘Gene Forman Inspiration Award.’ Established in
2015, the award honors a current or former Linfield student-athlete or coach
who demonstrates profound perseverance in the face of adversity.
In
September of 2015 he moved from his beloved Riddle to Dallas, Polk County,
Oregon.
A true
testament to Gene was that he was a collector of friends wherever he was. Those friendships became lifelong.
He kept
friendships with high school classmates, Linfield teammates, players, coaches,
staff members, and those living in a 55+ community in Dallas where he lived. He
had friendships, too, with caregivers
from various assisted living homes in which he lived in Salem and Keizer,
Oregon.
Gene was
loved and respected by so many. Those who knew him never forgot him.
He was
eternally grateful to those who donated funds to pay for needs related to his
paralysis. A key fundraiser for Gene soon after the accident was Hal Laycoe,
head coach of the Portland Buckaroos professional hockey team. Hal’s son, Bob
Laycoe, was one of Gene’s Linfield football teammates.
Gene
Forman is survived by his ex-wives Jackie Sochin and Valerie Johnson.
Dying
before him were his father, Floyd Eugene Forman Sr. (1913-2003); his mother,
Alice Rachel Eickworth Forman (1912-1984) and his sister, Joan Forman
(1946-1973).
All are invited to a celebration of Gene’s
s life. It will be held on the Linfield campus in McMinnville after conclusion
of the 1 p.m. Oct. 14, 2023, Homecoming football game.
Memorial donations to the “Gene ‘Ace’ Forman
Fund” are suggested. Donations may be made to Linfield University Advancement, 900 SE Baker St., McMinnville,
OR 97128. If you have donation questions or questions about the celebration of
life please contact Bob Haack, Ace’s Linfield teammate and friend: hawkstein@aol.com, (503)
706-7060.
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