Dan MohrmannLAKEWOOD — Hustle and heart will set you apart.
Mackenzie Forrest lived by those words. And those words were true to the way that she performed on the basketball court.
At the conclusion of the 2015-16 girls basketball season, “Lil Mac’s” senior year, she had cemented her place in Lakewood basketball history. She finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,420 points.
She was poised to play at Regis University, just up the road from her home.
But her story came to a tragic end on March 13, 2016. Mac was killed in a car accident.
Wednesday night, her friends, family, teammates, teammate-to-be and many others gathered at Lakewood High School to honor her.
They wanted to honor what she meant as a basketball player, student, friend and daughter. So it was fitting that they did so before a Tigers game, on the floor that she excelled on for four seasons.
Basketball was her thing. Ever since second grade she had found happiness on the hardwood and over the years, the game she had grown to love showed her love in return.
“Usually they started playing in third grade, but when she was in second grade a group of kids got together and said ‘Hey, let’s play basketball,'” Mac’s mother Denise said. “She was lucky enough to have a great group of dads to coach her and they were fairly competitive in their first year.”
So she kept playing. And she got better. She got better to the point that word got around to Tigers coach Chris Poisson that a stud player was coming in for the 2012-13 season.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
He was surprised to find out that the stud freshman was a short, blonde guard who always carried around a massive smile.
And right away, Poisson knew that there was something special about this girl.
“She and I had a special connection right away,” Poisson said. “When she died, my dad told me that she was my special one. That didn’t help.”
Poisson’s dad was “Papa Joe” Poisson, a longtime coach at Arvada High School. He was helping Chris at Lakewood.
But on April 28, just over a month after Lakewood lost Mac, Papa Joe passed away suddenly from heart failure. Two major pieces of Lakewood girls basketball were lost in an instant.
With the rest of the spring semester, a full summer and a fall season to go before the start of basketball, Poisson had to figure a way to bring positivity back to the Tigers.
“I had to be their leader,” he said. “We had a whole spring of immense weakness because of tragedies. What feeds me is our team. It was in the spring when we were away from each other. All I wanted was to be with them. People make you stronger.”
Once they were able to be together, Poisson and the community had to find a way to honor Mac and Papa Joe. It was Mac’s dad, Holger, who came up with the idea of raising money for a new scoreboard in honor of those two.
And retiring Mac’s jersey was a foregone conclusion. No one was going to wear No. 33 as long as he is the coach at Lakewood.
The image of the jersey hanging over the gym is powerful for the school, the student body and most importantly, the team.
A group of young women had to learn at an early age how to say goodbye and honor a friend who has passed away. A burden that is difficult for someone of any age to deal with had been thrust on a group of kids who are still trying to figure out their place in the world.
And that piece of cloth that Mac donned each game holds strong sentimental value for those kids. As their uniforms were being distributed early in the season, they kept looking for No. 33. They wanted to see that piece of their friend.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“Poisson had taken it out already,” senior Hannah Renstrom said. “Tonight was the first time that we’ve seen it. We each had a little moment where we walked over there and said hi to her, told her we’re remembering her and thinking about her all the time.”
Prior to the tip-off of Lakewood’s game against Columbine, Poisson took a minute to reflect on what made Mac such a special person, not just in basketball, but in everyday life.
He recounted that she lived as if it was her mission to share her gifts to those around her in order to make the world better, even if it was bit by bit.
Denise and Holger Forrest were on hand to hear the words that Poisson shared with a Lakewood community that dearly misses Mac. It was the first time in Lakewood’s gym since their daughter had passed away.
But for nearly a year, students at Lakewood have reached out to Denise via text, Facebook or some other means to share their stories of how Mac impacted their lives.
“That’s all we hope is that people know how she was as a person,” Holger said. “Not only on the court but whether she was volunteering at a soup kitchen or an orphanage, or going to church, or studying in her room.”
But there will always be memories of the basketball player as well. One day, someone may break her career scoring mark. But she doesn’t need to hold records in order for her place in school history to remain intact.
Lil Mac was true gift for Lakewood. She hustled every second that she stepped foot on her basketball court, but it was her heart that was her greatest strength.
And those two things together didn’t just set her apart. They made her stand out.
If you are interested in donating to the new scoreboard in honor of Mac or Papa Joe, please contact Chris Poisson at Christopher.Poisson@jeffco.k12.us.
Lakewood girls basketball coach Chris Poisson (left) stands with Denise and Holger Forrest. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)