Robert "Duke" Foster Jr. (January 23, 1929 – July 20, 1973) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Morehouse College , mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made") , type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college , academic_affiliations ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

from 1957 to 1966, compiling a record of 27–47–4. Foster was born on January 23, 1929, in Atlanta. He graduated from Northwestern High School in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in 1947 and entered Morehouse College as a student that fall. He played football at Morehouse as an end from 1947 to 1950, captaining the Tigers and earning All- Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) honors in 1949. He also played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

as a center and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

at the school. After graduating from Morehouse in 1951, he served two years in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, attaining the rank of lieutenant. After leaving the Marines, Foster earned a master's degree in health and physical education from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(NYU) and returned to Morehouse as an instructor and coach in 1955. He died on July 20, 1973.

Head coaching record

References

1929 births 1973 deaths American football ends Centers (basketball) Morehouse Maroon Tigers baseball players Morehouse Maroon Tigers basketball players Morehouse Maroon Tigers football coaches Morehouse Maroon Tigers football players New York University alumni United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War Coaches of American football from Michigan Players of American football from Atlanta Players of American football from Detroit Baseball players from Atlanta Baseball players from Detroit Basketball players from Atlanta African-American coaches of American football African-American baseball players African-American military personnel 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub