Bill Foster-RIP

[jimsumner]

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/c...e53605210.html

[jipops]

Truly sad loss. Foster's teams were my introduction to Duke ball as a kid. And if you haven't read Forever's Team, you should.

[NYBri]

He brought Duke back from the abyss. He and Gene Banks.

[sagegrouse]

He brought Duke back from the abyss. He and Gene Banks.

I have good memories of those years and of Bill Foster. Banks, of course, was preceded by Spanarkel and Gminski, who helped fuel the resurgence of Duke basketball.

[weezie]

Godspeed Coach Foster!

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Foster's first team was my junior year at Duke. We were pretty terrible. Next year, Jim Spanarkel was a freshman and there was suddenly a dim light at the end of the tunnel. I made the trip to St. Louis for the 1978 Final Four. The light was very bright then! Foster, along with most of the team, signed a dollar bill for me after we beat Notre Dame in the first semifinal game. Nice guy. Condolences to his family, and to Spanarkel, Banks, Dennard and Gminski.

RIP Bill.

[jv001]

Back in the Foster era, the Duke team would scrimmage at some local high schools and you could have access to the players. That was the good old days for getting close to the team. Coach Foster was a good coach and a gentleman as well. Prayers for the family. GoDuke!

[Indoor66]

Rest well my friend. You led a good life and helped many youth become good men. My prayers are for you as well as for Shirley and the girls and their families. You will be missed and well remembered.

[slower]

Rest well my friend. You led a good life and helped many youth become good men. My prayers are for you as well as for Shirley and the girls and their families. You will be missed and well remembered.

I went to high school with his daughters. Sadly, his beautiful older daughter, Vicki, died in a fire many years ago.

[Atlanta Duke]

RIP - I remember when Coach Foster came in my junior year when the Duke program had bottomed out

He restored the program to the big time - always sorry that for whatever reason he felt a need to move on after the 1979-80 season, although that obviously worked out OK for Duke

[Tommac]

Back in the Foster era, the Duke team would scrimmage at some local high schools and you could have access to the players. That was the good old days for getting close to the team. Coach Foster was a good coach and a gentleman as well. Prayers for the family. GoDuke!

I got to see the team scrimmage at Greensboro Grimsley high school during the Foster years at Duke, in 1978 or 1979.

[ChrisP]

RIP Coach. I was 11 when the '78 team made it all the way to the Finals. My parents went to the Final Four that year and I am pretty sure I still have my ticket stub from the "Checkerdome" in St Louis around here somewhere.

Lots of fond memories of Bill Foster's teams, for sure. Condolences to his family.

[MarkD83]

Truly sad loss. Foster's teams were my introduction to Duke ball as a kid. And if you haven't read Forever's Team, you should.

I concur. I reread the book this summer and it is well worth another read.

My prayers go out to Coach Foster's family, friends and his duke teams and fans everywhere.

[-bdbd]

Very sad to hear this news. By all reports he was a very good man. He did great things for Duke.

I was a student when he shocked us and decided to leave, just a couple years removed from an appearance in the National Championship game vs KY.

It only got worse, as the poor Duke Athletic Director eventually had to "settle" for a too-young-to-be-successful replacement from an upstate NY military school with a name nobody could pronounce, much less spell...


RIP coach. And thank you.

[Atldukie79]

Coach Foster was a tremendous person. As a coach, he was a tireless recruiter, but also a promoter. He visited many, if not most living groups on campus and met with students to promote Duke basketball...hard to imagine having to do that now. One of his daughters was a student at Duke with my wife.

As a pep band member, we traveled with the team to each location during the march to the FF in 1978. I remember flying with the team on charters, and Coach Foster was approachable and friendly to all, even while working on the game plan at his seat.

I guess he has become a bit of a footnote at Duke, but his tenure at Duke, though short, was epic in its own way. Having lost the luster of the Bubas teams of the 60's, Duke of the early to mid 70's played in a 7 team ACC with a dominating UNC program, the best Maryland teams ever (sorry 2002), and the best NC State teams ever. Oh, and UVA won an ACC tournament too. And Duke was on the bottom of the conference.

Foster restored the glory for a brief moment, but left rather abruptly.

A good man. Thanks for your part in the Duke basketball storyline.

[gurufrisbee]

Wow. How sad. His Duke time was before I was following, but I actually got Forever Team this year for Christmas and just finished it last weekend. What a loss of a good man.

[arnie]

Coach Foster was a tremendous person. As a coach, he was a tireless recruiter, but also a promoter. He visited many, if not most living groups on campus and met with students to promote Duke basketball...hard to imagine having to do that now. One of his daughters was a student at Duke with my wife.

As a pep band member, we traveled with the team to each location during the march to the FF in 1978. I remember flying with the team on charters, and Coach Foster was approachable and friendly to all, even while working on the game plan at his seat.

I guess he has become a bit of a footnote at Duke, but his tenure at Duke, though short, was epic in its own way. Having lost the luster of the Bubas teams of the 60's, Duke of the early to mid 70's played in a 7 team ACC with a dominating UNC program, the best Maryland teams ever (sorry 2002), and the best NC State teams ever. Oh, and UVA won an ACC tournament too. And Duke was on the bottom of the conference.

Foster restored the glory for a brief moment, but left rather abruptly.

A good man. Thanks for your part in the Duke basketball storyline.

Great post. After suffering through the Bucky Waters disaster and wondering what it would be like if Duke actually made the tourney, Foster takes us to the promised land in a miracle season. What a trip that was.

[ChrisP]

Ok so perhaps this occurred to most of you long ago but...it just dawned on me that, if Coach Foster hadn't resigned unexpectedly, the truly amazing, entertaining ride that Coach K has taken us on for 35 years likely never would have happened. Seems a bit odd to "thank" Bill Foster for doing - what seemed at the time anyway - a not-so-great thing for Duke University but...thanks again, Coach F

[wsb3]

Truly sad loss. Foster's teams were my introduction to Duke ball as a kid. And if you haven't read Forever's Team, you should.

Rarely have I ever read a book twice but I have read Forever's Team twice & possibly three times.

What a group of characters that team was.. RIP Coach Foster..

[devil84]

Coach Foster lived down the road from us and I went to high school with his daughters. He was the coach of the Blue Devils when Dad and Mom moved the family down here from Chicago. We were a bit despondent that there was no NHL hockey in the area, but his Blue Devils basketball team won us over in the first half of the first game of the '76-'77 season. We didn't miss the NHL after that, and are still Duke season ticket holders.

Thank you, Coach Foster, for igniting the lifelong passion for Duke Basketball in our family. You'll be missed. My sympathies to his family, friends, team members, and fans.