Larry Foster
Navajo
Induction Category:
Year Inducted
Athlete
2024
Larry Foster is of the Kinyaa’a’anii (Towering House People Clan) born for the Dzil’ta’ahnii (Mountain Cover Clan). Raised in the Fort Defiance, Arizona community to the late Navajo Code Talker Harold Y. Foster, Sr. and Margaret Foster.
As a student athlete at Window Rock High School, he earned All-Conference and All-State honors in three sports from 1966-1968 in baseball, football, and basketball. He was named to the All-Area Connie Mack San Juan Basin League and the Navajo American Legion Baseball League.
Upon graduating from high school, he played two years at Bacone Junior College in Muskogee, OK under Coach Negial A. King, and played in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series in Grand Junction, CO. He went on to play at Adams State College in Alamosa, CO, He was named as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Batting Champion in 1971, under Coach Louie Long with a .442 batting average, where he was part of winning the RMAC District #7 finals and a trip to the NAIA playoffs in Pueblo, CO.
After his college career, he played semi-pro baseball and was a nine-time All-Tournament outfield and batting champion. He also played in All-Indian baseball tournaments in Northern Arizona Baseball League tournaments from 1964-1976. He competed in leagues with All Pueblo Indian, Southwest Salt River Agency, Colorado River Indian, and Southern Arizona in Tucson, Arizona and competed in Amateur Softball Association (ASA) fast pitch softball that earned him trips to the National All Indian ASA fast pitch tournaments in Oklahoma City; Bell Gardens; California Indian Softball; Soboba Indian Reservation, CA; and, Gallup, NM.
Foster was inducted into the Southwest All Indian Sports Hall of Fame in Phoenix, AZ in 2008 and the Navajo Nation Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
He is married to Mattie Foster, with two adopted kids, and seven grandchildren. Foster received BA in Sociology and AA in Public Health from UCLA in 1980. He is a retired Public Health Advisor and Infectious Disease Coordinator in Arizona, NM and Navajo Nation. Presently, he’s an advocate with the American Indian Religious Freedom, Apache Stronghold and Sportswriter for local area high school on social media.