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, and was a two-time All-NBA Team member and an eight-time All-Star. His eight All-Star selections is the most in NBA history for an eligible player who was not selected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
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.
A 6ft 9 in center from La Salle University, 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.
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.[1] 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.
Foust later joined the Lakers in 1957,[2] and helped the team make the 1959 NBA Finals.[3] 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.[4] The Lakers would eventually lose the series.
In 1960, he was traded to the St. Louis Hawks,[5] who he would play with for two and a half more seasons before retiring.
Foust retired in 1962 with 11,198 career points and 8,041 career rebounds.
Foust utilized his height and strength to stifle his opponents in the paint. [6]
When author Robert Cohen selected an all-star team from 1946 to 1960 era of the NBA, Foust was chosen 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"[7] 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.[8] He is also the only player with eight All-Star Game selections to not be inducted.[9][10]
Foust died in 1984 of a heart attack at age 56.[11] He lived in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania at the time of death, and was survived by his wife and four children.[12]