Background
Foster grew up in Springfield, Ohio and attended Springfield South High School.
Foster grew up in Springfield, Ohio and attended Springfield South High School.
South High School.
Foster played as a 6"5" forward at Miami University. After averaging only 3.4 points per game as a sophomore, as a junior he exploded for 21.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game and was named first-team All-Mid-American Conference. His single-game high was 43 points against Ball State University on December 2, 1967.
Foster also averaged 12.5 rebounds per game that year, sixth in Miami history.
Foster ranks third in Miami history in career points per game at 18.8 and seventh in career rebounds per game at 8.9 from 1966 to 1968. He had a career field goal percentage of.484.
He was drafted in the third round of the 1968 National Basketball Association Draft by the Cincinnati Royals and was also selected in the 1968 American Basketball Association draft by the Kentucky Colonels. Foreign the season, he averaged 3.4 points per game.
Foster came on strong in his second season, 1969-1970, when he averaged 14.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, both career highs.
He also had career highs in minutes per game (281) and field goal percentage (449). He twice had a single-game career best of 32 points—on January 7, 1970 against the Milwaukee Buckinghamshire when he made 13 field goals and was 6-for-6 at the free throw line, and again on February 15 against the San Diego Rockets. In 1970-1971, after playing one game with the Royals, he was traded along with Connie Dierking to the Philadelphia 76ers for Darrall Imhoff and a future draft pick.
Foreign the season, Foster averaged 5.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
In 1971-1972, he was a steady contributor, averaging 23 minutes per game and 11.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He had a season-high 30 points on February 10, 1972 against the Golden State Warriors.
Prior to the 1972-1973 season, on July 31, 1972, Foster was traded to the Portland Trailblazers for a future draft pick, then on the same day Portland traded him to the Detroit Pistons for Terry Dischinger. In 23.2 minutes per game, he averaged 8.7 points per game.
On October 8, 1973, he was waived by the Pistons and three weeks later signed as a free agent with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 1973-1974 season, averaging 4.8 points per game.
In 1974-1975, he upped his average to 6.9 points per game. He did not play in the 1975-1976 season, and in 1976-1977 he returned to the National Basketball Association, signing as a free agent with the Buffalo Braves, for whom he averaged 3.9 points per game in his eights and final National Basketball Association season. Foster died in 1985 at age 39 in his hometown of Springfield, Ohio.
In 1998, he was posthumously inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame.