# Larry Foust

Laurence Michael Foust (June 24, 1928 – October 27, 1984) was an American basketball player who spent 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most notably with the Fort Wayne Pistons and Minneapolis Lakers. In a twelve year career, he was a two-time All-NBA Team member and an eight-time All-Star while reaching the NBA Finals five times. His eight All-Star selections (which occurred in his first nine years as a player) is the most in NBA history for an eligible player who has not been selected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

## Early life

Foust attended South Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was instrumental in winning the city championship against archrival Southern High School by scoring a last second basket.
As a 6ft 9 in center (with size 15.5 feet) he was recruited to play at La Salle University, where he played from 1946 to 1950. The Explorers reached the National Invitational Tournament twice in 1948 and 1950, with the former being the first postseason appearance in school history. In 1962, Foust was inducted into the Hall of Athletes.

## Professional career

Foust was selected by the Chicago Stags in the 1950 NBA draft, but the Stags franchise folded before the start of the 1950–51 NBA season, and Foust joined the Fort Wayne Pistons. He bulked up to 275 pounds for NBA play.
With the Pistons, Foust averaged a double-double in points and rebounds and was selected to six All-Star games. On November 22, 1950, Foust scored the winning basket in a 19–18 Pistons victory over the Minneapolis Lakers, the lowest scoring game in NBA history. Foust was tied with Mel Hutchins for the NBA lead in rebounding in the 1951–52 season. In the 1954–55 season, Foust led the NBA in field goal percentage with 48.7%, a career peak. That year, the team went to the NBA Finals and he scored 24 points in the decisive Game 7 but they narrowly lost to Syracuse.
Foust later joined the Lakers in 1957, and helped the team make the 1959 NBA Finals. In Game 3 of the series, Foust led the Lakers in scoring and rebounding totals with 26 points and 22 rebounds, during a 123–110 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Lakers would eventually lose the series.
In 1960, he was traded to the St. Louis Hawks, who he would play with for two and a half more seasons before retiring at the age of 33 due to the grueling schedule catching up with his sore legs and back.
Foust retired in 1962 with 11,198 career points and 8,041 career rebounds in 817 games. His points were tenth in league history at the time of retirement.

## Player profile and legacy

Foust utilized his height and strength to stifle his opponents in the paint. His 48.7% field goal percentage in the 1954-55 season set a new NBA record for four years. Author Robert Cohen, in selecting an all-star team from the 1946-1960 era of the NBA, chose Foust as the fifth-best center, noting that Foust "in many ways represented one of the finest early prototypes of what eventually became the modernized basketball big man. Although Foust had considerable bulk and displayed a great deal of aggression under the boards, he also exhibited a fair amount of agility and ballhandling skills."
When calculating players of Hall of Fame Probability, Basketball Reference has him listed as 76th with 94.2%, which is the highest among eligible players that are not in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He is one of just five players (Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes, Ed Macauley, Harry Gallatin) who was named to each of the NBA’s first six All-Star teams (1951-1956) but he is the only one to not be in the Hall. He is also the only player with eight All-Star Game selections to not be inducted.
La Salle teammate Jim Phelan called Foust a "great player".

## NBA career statistics
### Regular season

| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| 1950–51 | Fort Wayne | 68 | – | .346 | .659 | 10.0 | 1.3 | 13.5 |
| 1951–52 | Fort Wayne | 66 | 39.6 | 394 | .678 | 13.3 | 3.0 | 15.9 |
| 1952–53 | Fort Wayne | 67 | 34.4 | .360 | .723 | 11.5 | 2.3 | 14.3 |
| 1953–54 | Fort Wayne | 72 | 37.4 | .409 | .712 | 13.4 | 2.2 | 15.1 |
| 1954–55 | Fort Wayne | 70 | 32.3 | .487* | .766 | 10.0 | 1.7 | 17.0 |
| 1955–56 | Fort Wayne | 72 | 28.1 | .447 | .778 | 9.0 | 1.8 | 16.2 |
| 1956–57 | Fort Wayne | 61 | 25.1 | .394 | .718 | 9.1 | 1.2 | 12.4 |
| 1957–58 | Minneapolis | 72 | 30.6 | .398 | .756 | 12.2 | 1.5 | 16.8 |
| 1958–59 | Minneapolis | 72 | 26.8 | .390 | .765 | 8.7 | 1.3 | 12.3 |
| 1959–60 | Minneapolis/St.Louis | 72 | 27.3 | .407 | .791 | 8.6 | 1.3 | 12.2 |
| 1960–61 | St. Louis | 68 | 17.8 | .397 | .788 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 8.1 |
| 1961–62 | St. Louis | 57 | 20.2 | .471 | .815 | 5.8 | 1.4 | 9.7 |
| Career | Career | 817 | 29.2 | .405 | .741 | 9.8 | 1.7 | 13.7 |
| All-Star | All-Star | 7 | 16.9 | .315 | .938 | 7.0 | 0.4 | 7.0 |

### Playoffs

| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
| 1951 | Fort Wayne | 3 | – | .311 | .800 | 12.3 | 1.7 | 12.0 |
| 1952 | Fort Wayne | 2 | 38.5 | .522 | .857 | 15.0 | 2.5 | 15.0 |
| 1953 | Fort Wayne | 8 | 41.5 | .397 | .838 | 13.9 | 0.8 | 19.1 |
| 1954 | Fort Wayne | 4 | 32.3 | .268 | .760 | 9.5 | 1.8 | 10.3 |
| 1955 | Fort Wayne | 11 | 30.1 | .395 | .712 | 9.7 | 2.4 | 15.6 |
| 1956 | Fort Wayne | 10 | 28.9 | .377 | .787 | 12.7 | 1.4 | 16.8 |
| 1957 | Fort Wayne | 2 | 32.0 | .565 | .826 | 12.5 | 3.0 | 22.5 |
| 1959 | Minneapolis | 13 | 31.1 | .418 | .820 | 10.5 | 0.9 | 11.8 |
| 1960 | St. Louis | 12 | 17.1 | .392 | .800 | 5.7 | 0.9 | 6.5 |
| 1961 | St. Louis | 8 | 11.1 | .450 | .571 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 3.3 |
| Career | Career | 73 | 27.4 | .394 | .781 | 9.7 | 1.3 | 12.4 |

## Personal life and death

After retirement, he worked in the business of building material and artificial turf production. He also served as a youth counselor for the state of Pennsylvania.
Foust died in 1984 of a heart attack at age 56. He lived in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania at the time of death, and was survived by his wife and four children.