There was a runner named Steve Foster who competed for the Florida Track Club in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a 3:55 miler and a top road racer. Does anyone know what happened to him? Steve Foster isn't the most googleable name.
He coached my high school track team in Dunedin Fl in 1983.
I was fortunate to be in Gainesville Fl towards the end of it's era of the great Fla. track club
(IE Bacheler , Shorter , Liquori ) and to have had the opportunity to train with (I was slow)and witness the cast of characters that were frequently seen blazing the streets around the Univ. Of Fla.
I seem to recall Foster winning the Oaks Mall 10 miler (late 70's) and in the process
beating numerous Athletics West athletes. Foster worked for Liquori at Athletic Attic and was approached by AW. Liquori's counter was a pay raise of $1/hr. Results?
Foster and Barry Brown dueled it out one year at the 4 mile Easter beach run in Daytona. Results?
I do remember Brown telling me how talented Foster was but he was squandering his talent on
the night life. Hopefully an old FTC runner with the Initials BK will chime in. He was in Gville
during this time and has an abundance of FTC stories.
In the late 70's I lived in the Oaks Apartments, Steve & a roommate lived across the hall from me, I was strictly Basketball at the time, but we frequently got together socially. I drove him to his first,(I think), Easter run in my hometown Daytona. Dick Edson,(my high school track coach), was the run director that year, and Steve did win.....I've got pics of him then, but solely party type atmospheres. Don't know where he is now, but he was a great guy, and a good friend back then.
JAXDUKE wrote:
I do remember Brown telling me how talented Foster was but he was squandering his talent on
the night life.
Seeing this made me think back to the challenges that Barry faced, and ultimately succumbed to. He encouraged one of my college teammates, who was in high school at the time, to come to UF. Things didn't work out for the kid and he ended up back in his home town and he too has struggled to find his place in the world.
So often we associate the traits that go along with being a successful distance runner with being successful in life generally that it's easy to forget that even some of these incredibly successful people face meaningful challenges.
If you (speaking to the world at large) are one of those people, please get help.
bsmak24 wrote:
Is this him?
https://www.jackrabbittrack.com/teams/default.asp?u=JACKRABBIT&s=htosports&p=coachprofile&sportsHQ=JACKRABBIT&coachID=14444
Not the same person.
Hell no, Steve Foster was a 3:55 miler.
This other guy ran 26 MILE marathon's! Wow!
JAXDUKE wrote:
I was fortunate to be in Gainesville Fl towards the end of it's era of the great Fla. track club
(IE Bacheler , Shorter , Liquori ) and to have had the opportunity to train with (I was slow)and witness the cast of characters that were frequently seen blazing the streets around the Univ. Of Fla.
I seem to recall Foster winning the Oaks Mall 10 miler (late 70's) and in the process
beating numerous Athletics West athletes. Foster worked for Liquori at Athletic Attic and was approached by AW. Liquori's counter was a pay raise of $1/hr. Results?
Foster and Barry Brown dueled it out one year at the 4 mile Easter beach run in Daytona. Results?
I do remember Brown telling me how talented Foster was but he was squandering his talent on
the night life. Hopefully an old FTC runner with the Initials BK will chime in. He was in Gville
during this time and has an abundance of FTC stories.
Yes, Foster won the Oaks Mall ten miler in 1979 in 47:27. It was a hilly course, basically a loop of the Mall parking lot then University Ave. past UF to 13th St. and back. Ken Misner was 2nd in 47:49 and Paul Geis led a big Athletics West contingent in 3rd at 48:04. I had a good race and won the Masters - but way behind those guys (54:59). . BK ran it too.
I am going through all my runner stuff and found an application for the 1980 Easter Beach Run on Daytona Beach and part of the application form is a picture of Steve Foster with the caption "1976-77-79 Winner".
Slcman wrote:
There was a runner named Steve Foster who competed for the Florida Track Club in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a 3:55 miler and a top road racer. Does anyone know what happened to him? Steve Foster isn't the most googleable name.
He coached my high school track team in Dunedin Fl in 1983.
You're right about it being a hard to google name. I do remember him. It was kind of noticeable in those days for a guy as good at the mile as he was to turn up at lots of road races. And I sort of think of him as maybe the last of the Florida Track Club's glory days because shoe companies had begun signing people to their own clubs by then.
I don't know what became of him but evidently he's still around. Facebook keeps including him on my page when they show people I might know and might want to have as a Friend. It must be the Steve Foster you're asking about because I think all of the mutual friends we share are old runners.