Former Wake Forest football players pay tribute to Johnny Foster

For those who know Johnny Foster, it will come as no surprise that he was the last one out of the locker room after the disheartening 23-17 loss to Duke on Nov.

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After tidying up the locker room one last time since the season came to an end, Foster, a prominent alum who is a volunteer that helps in the equipment room, wasnt as down in the dumps as he could have been after the Blue Devils scored a touchdown on the final play of the game.

This team saved me, said Foster, who had lost his wife of 39 years, Sue, to cancer in mid-October.

I needed them more than they needed me.

Unannounced that he was coming Foster flew to Palo Alto, California and surprised the team for the game with Stanford a few weeks after his wife had died.

When the Demon Deacons pulled out the win, Coach Dave Clawson gave the game ball to Foster, who was overwhelmed with emotion.

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Ill have that game ball the rest of my life, Foster said just outside the empty locker room at Allegacy Stadium last month.

Johnny Foster, second from right, and several players from the 1970s met at homecoming at Wake Forest a few years ago.

Clawson, who resigned after 11 seasons as head coach of the Demon Deacons, praised Foster for his dedication to the program.

Foster has helped with the use his airplane through the years for coaches Jim Grobe and Clawson in recruiting as well as flying to most of the away games to help with locker room duties.

How could not love Johnny? Clawson said a few days before he resigned and is now a special advisor to Athletics Director John Currie.

Hes just one of those guys who would do anything for us, and I know hes been that way for a long time.

Johnny Foster is president of Skytech, a private aviation company outside of Baltimore.

Technically, Foster, a 1978 Wake Forest graduate who is from Davidson County, is the volunteer assistant equipment manager.

He works in lock step with Brian Daniels, who is the director of football equipment.

Thanks to Fosters teammates from the late 1970s who raised $500,000 the title for Daniels job will now include Johnny Fos-ter.

Johnny has done so much for Wake Forest and for us and we just wanted to do something for him and for Sue, said Lou Tilley, a former teammate who is also a 1978 graduate.

We actually were able to put together a video so Sue could see it before she passed.

What amazes Clawson is the bond Foster and many of his teammates from that era have for each other.

They didnt win a lot of games, but that hardly matters.

Those guys are all about Wake Forest and to hear what they did for Johnny doesnt surprise me at all, Clawson said.

I think that shows you right there what Wake Forest is all about.

Clawson said through the years when Wake Forest is having a football event involving past players the 1970's teams are always there.

They represent that Chuck Mills era in a big way, and they love each other and have kept in touch a long time, Clawson said.

So, they have embraced Johnny and his wife and its been neat to get to know those guys.

Typically, in most programs if an era didnt have that much success on the field they maybe might not stick together but that group has.

When Foster is asked about what it means to him to have the job named after him, he fights back tears.

It means a lot, he said.

Tilley says that what Foster has brought to the football program has been a lot.

Foster, who is a graduate of Ledford High School, nearly had to leave school midway through his freshman season because Foster's father was laid off from work in the furniture business.

Mills, however, had other ideas because Foster stayed rent free with a few of the football players for three and half years but provided for the program as a full-time manager.

Foster has never forgotten that kind gesture which is why he continues to bleed black and gold.

Johnny Foster (left) has been a volunteer equipment manager at Wake Forest for the last 20 years and attends every game home and away.

He worked in the NFL for a few years after college and then started his own aviation company that has thrived just outside of Baltimore.

His love for flying helped him open his own company and said several years ago that without that Wake Forest degree none of it would have happened.

A bunch of the former players such as Barry Sikes and Don Cervi also helped raise the money, Tilley said.

The truck that Wake Forest uses to transport its football equipment to road games was donated by alum Johnny Foster.

Others who helped make it happen were Tilley, Terry Athas, Wayne McNeely, Mike McGlamry, John Bryant, Terry Giblin, John Sabia and Don Sabia, along with Chip Seidel, John Zeglinski, Jay Venuta, Carlos Bradley and Jerry McManus.

Foster said having the job title in his name is a testament to the bond he shares with his former teammates.

Ive kept in touch with all of those guys from back then, Foster said.

And Ill never forget what they did for me when I nearly had to leave Wake Forest because we couldnt afford it.

I'm just thankful.

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