Remembering Jamie Foster

 From the desk of Dan Price

I read the Sunday paper this morning, the Arizona Daily Star. It's a habit I cannot break. A former sports reporter myself, I read Greg Hansen's column regularly. Today, on Greg's This and That, his first lengthy paragraph starts with the headline: Larson, 94, meets up with former players.

Larson was the guest speaker at my sports awards ceremony in 1965 at Eastern Arizona College. I was 20; Larson must have been pushing 40 or at least 39. Where have the years gone? 

As I continued reading the column, the names returned me to the 1963 and 1964 Arizona basketball teams. Listed by Hansen: the names Buddy Doolen, Albert Johnson, Dennis Albright, Tom Lavoy, and Ken Kurtz.

Missing from the group of names was my high school buddy and friend forever, Jamie Foster. We lost Jamie in February of 2020... just weeks before the coronavirus took off like a desert thunderstorm, moving quickly through all our lives.

Jamie was a star player in 1961 at Catalina High School and went on to make the roster in 1963 and 1964 with our beloved Arizona Wildcats. Those two years in particular, he was my crowd-pleaser when he came off the bench late in games. He was my basketball hero. I was just two years behind him in high school. 

We won the prep championship at Catalina High in 1963 with a win in the finale over Phoenix South Mountain. I would always joke with Jamie. "Hey, big fella, you graduated two years too early." 

Below are two photos of Jamie: 1) of Jamie, the neighborhood kid, who would sprout into a considerable 6-foot, 5-inch rebounder. He was already a big man on campus, in my mind, long before he enrolled at the University of Arizona and played basketball for Larson. 2)  of Jamie, his beautiful wife, Freddy Wade-Foster, the love of Jamie's life, and yours truly. I had the honor of seeing Freddy and Jamie in November of  2019. Freddy said Jamie felt well enough to come to Udall Park and watch me play for the 60-and-over Tucson Old Timers, an amateur baseball organization, now in its 53rd season.

It was the last time I saw my basketball hero, Jamie Foster.

I can still picture in my mind a University of Arizona game in 1964. It was the last minute of the game, and the voice on the loudspeaker roared: "And now entering the game, JAMIE FOSTER."