Newly elected poster children bring royal air to Augustana (David Foster)

From a buzzer-beating three-pointer to a late night at the library to an evening out with friends, you can count on one thing. David Foster won't do it without a smile.

A hushed silence fell over the crowd as the king candidates lifted the blue packages onto their laps and tore the wrapping off.   Every box was empty except Foster's; his held a heart.  Foster and Kayla Graber were announced as Viking Day's Homecoming King and Queen on Monday, Oct. 12, in the Elmen Center.

"Monday through Friday has been a blast," Foster said. "It was great to know everyone on court. Every night something fun was going on."

Foster is an exercise science and fitness management major who lived in La Pine, Ore. until he was in sixth grade.  His family then moved to Big Timber, Mont.  He is the son of Brent and Nancy Foster.  He has one sister who plays basketball at the University of Mary and is coached by Coach Fridley (who coached Tom Billeter, David's head coach at Augustana).

Foster has been a large part of the Augustana basketball team for the last four years.

I have known Dave since his senior year of high school," Billeter said.  "I was in a gym in Las Vegas and watched his AAU team play, and I liked David's ability to shoot the ball.  From that point on we began the recruiting process."

According to Billeter, Foster has an extremely good attitude.  "He listens, works hard and does what he can do as well as he can," Billeter said.

Foster's favorite memory at Augustana is when the basketball team played at Billings, Mont., about an hour from his hometown last December.  According to Foster, there were about 300 fans at the game, 250 from Big Timber.

"Dave had a pretty tough night going," Billeter said. "We are down by three with less than a minute left in the game. We call a timeout, draw a play up for Dave to shoot a three, which Billings doesn't really key on him that particular instance. He pops to the top of the key and drills a huge basket to tie things up.  We go on to win the game by two, but would not have won had Dave not tied it with his second basket of the night."

Foster not only excels in basketball, but academics as well.  English professor Patrick Hicks had Foster in English 200.

"David was one of those students I thoroughly enjoyed having in class because he was a deep thinker and I could tell the gears were always turning in his mind," Hicks said. "His approach to literature reminded me of a young man on an adventure rather than a student wading into a thick book. I was sad to see him leave at the end of the semester."

Queen Graber cannot speak kindly enough about the king.  "David is an extremely nice guy, who is talented in both athletics and academics, but yet remains very modest," she said. "Whenever bumping into David on campus, he always has a contagious smile spread across his face. He's a person that just radiates happiness."

To add to his many talents, Foster also joined the baseball team last year and pitched a couple games. He plans to play again this year. In what little spare time he has, he attends the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and Cru.

After graduation in May, Foster will be working at the Northwest Basketball Camp (NBC) in Alaska during the first three months of summer.  Foster worked at this camp the summer after his freshman and sophomore years.  After that he plans on trying to play professional basketball ball overseas.

Eventually, he would like to acquire a Master's in nutrition and food science. "I may even go to a Third World country and join the Peace Corp.,"  he said.  Foster sets no limits.

"Dave has worked hard and taken pride in representing Augustana," Billeter said. "Whether it be a three-pointer at the buzzer in last year's NCAA tournament to win the game against St. Cloud or working on his schoolwork, Dave takes a personable and positive approach to all he does.  He will be a success after basketball, and Augie will be proud of what he accomplishes."