By Holly Crenshaw
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Charlton Forbes was a gifted, 6-foot-2-inch athlete who won a college football scholarship even though he'd never played the game in his native Jamaica. He was a winning coach, an inspiring teacher and an assistant high school principal who offered strong but loving advice to students and parents who turned to him for guidance.

He also was on the verge of two major landmarks in his life: a doctorate and a wedding in May.
Charlton George Forbes, 32, of Covington died of a heart attack Sunday at Gwinnett Medical Center. The funeral is 11 a.m. today at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home, South DeKalb Chapel, is in charge of arrangements. Mr. Forbes had just played a flag football game with fellow members of New Mercies Christian Church in Lilburn, where he served as a youth minister, when he fell ill. Based on the enlarged heart they discovered, doctors suspect he may have suffered a previously undetected heart attack, said his sister, Tamara Forbes, of Canton.
"No one can believe it. People still don't believe it," she said. "He had so much influence in people's lives."

The native of Jamaica was born in Old Harbour, St. Catherine. He grew up playing soccer, graduated from high school at 16, then moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and graduated from high school a second time there.

He won a football scholarship to West Virginia University, where he was a three-year letterman from 1995 to 1998. He played 41 games as a defensive tackle and made the Big East Scholar-Athlete team.

Mr. Forbes graduated from WVU with a bachelor's degree in secondary education and a specialization in mathematics, another area where he was naturally gifted, his sister said.
He taught and coached at several DeKalb schools, including Redan High School, Stephenson High School and Miller Grove Middle School. In August 2007, he was named an assistant principal at  HYPERLINK "http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/martin-luther-king-index.html?cxntlid=linkr" Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

"He had a magnetic personality, and he was so endearing that you couldn't help but have some kind of affection for him," said his friend Dr. Ralph Simpson of Atlanta, DeKalb schools' area assistant superintendent.  Mr. Forbes' combination of toughness and tenderness came out around his students and his family, his sister said.  When his mother came to visit from Jamaica, he would pick her up and spin her around in his arms. When he rough-housed with his 5-year-old daughter, he would teach her to tackle but cradle her falls. When he crossed the street with his sister, he would instinctively move her to the inside and shield her from traffic.

"Some of his students at Martin Luther King Jr. have been saying he was the only dad they knew," said his fiancee, Angelique Walton of Snellville.  "He had a passion for students and loved them like they were his own," she said. "Boy, girl, black, white, Hispanic —- it just didn't matter to him."  The couple had planned a garden wedding over Memorial Day weekend in Lithonia and a honeymoon in Cancun.

At his funeral today, Mr. Forbes will receive a posthumous Ed.D. from Argosy University.
"He always had a plan, always had a goal, always was looking ahead and thinking of how he could better himself," his sister said, "and at the same time, better children."

Other survivors include his mother, Dolice Forbes of Old Harbour, St. Catherine, Jamaica; his father, Leslie Forbes of Fort Lauderdale; and his daughter, Morgan Forbes of Stone Mountain.