Hall of Fame
Forrest Reed was on the coaching staff of two state championship teams at Memorial High School.
He was an assistant under Phil Collins on the Eagles’ 1976 Class 3A championship football team. He was the head coach on the 1978 Class 3A track and field championship team.
However, colleagues and former athletes say he was an even better person.
“He was a gentleman first,” former assistant coach Mike Bryant said. “He was just a great guy. I don’t think I ever heard him say a negative word about anybody or anything. The kids respected him. A good family man, he and Christine (wife) were quite a pair.”
"There are not very many people on the planet in my mind that were as good of a person as Coach Reed,” former football player and middle-distance runner Mark Taylor said. “For me, he was just rock steady. He was honest. He wasn’t up and down, and he knew what he was doing.
“He ran track back in college, and he was a good football coach, too. But I think track was his passion.”
“He was a man of God,” former sprinter Doug Steele said. “He was a strong figure to lead a bunch of high-spirited horses. We were good kids—don't get me wrong—but it was the ‘70s, and you’ve seen the pictures. We all had long hair and fast cars—distractions. He kept us focused. He knew how to build toward the state meet. I have no doubt.
“His workouts were intense, but he loved us. He was a very strong role model for a bunch of young men. I thought the world of him.”
Reed, who died Oct. 22, 2025, after a short battle with cancer, is being inducted into the Joplin Sports Authority Area Hall of Fame on Oct. 8.
“He was a good all-around guy and a great coach who related to players,” former Memorial coach Joe Ketchum said. “He’s well deserving of this honor for sure.”
Reed was a coach and taught mathematics and computer applications at Memorial from 1968 to 1985.
“He’s the guy who introduced me to computer programming,” Taylor said. “I made my living as a computer programmer analyst. I owe a lot to Coach Reed.”
Memorial won its track and field state title despite having only six athletes qualify for the meet, and four of them combined to score all the points.
“He was a mastermind at track,” Bryant said. “He was so intelligent in that sport. He knew how to develop kids at all levels. He had a miler, a 400-man, an 800-man, a 200, and two 100s. He was a trackster in college, so I guess he got it there.
“And he was low-key. He didn’t get excited. He had the kids ready to run, and they did it.”
Reed left teaching when Memorial and Parkwood consolidated in 1985 and opened his own business, Computerland.
He started working at Eagle-Picher in 1992, where he held several management positions. He was Director of Quality Assurance for Defense and Aerospace applications during his final 10 years, and after retiring, he continued to do consulting for NASA for several years.
