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Former Olympian, NCCU track star passes away

Courtesy: NCCU Athletics

DURHAM, N.C. — Charles Foster, who won five NAIA and NCAA individual national championships and was the top-ranked hurdler in the world during his collegiate career at North Carolina Central University, passed away on Sunday (March 31) at the age of 65.

A 1975 graduate of NCCU, Foster was a dominant force on the track during his college career from 1971-75, specializing in the hurdles. After NCCU, he placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and enjoyed an accomplished career as a college coach.

https://twitter.com/NCCUAthletics/status/1112488788301938689

During his junior and senior campaigns at NCCU, Foster repeated as the NAIA national champion in the indoor 60-yard hurdles, setting the meet record in 1975 with a time of 6.9 seconds, and the outdoor 120-yard/110-meter hurdles, breaking the meet record in 1974 in 13.4 seconds. He also captured the NCAA outdoor 120-yard hurdles national championship in 1974 with a time of 13.35 seconds.

In 1974, Foster was ranked as the No. 1 hurdler in the world.

As a freshman, Foster helped lead the Eagles to the 1972 NAIA outdoor track & field team national championship, running a leg of the 440-yard relay that set a meet record with a time of 39.5 seconds.

Foster was inducted into the NCCU Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class in 1984, and has also been enshrined in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (1981) and the Penn Relays Wall of Fame (2016).

One thought on “Former Olympian, NCCU track star passes away

  1. Sorry to hear of his death . We became great friends here and Durham. He used to love his dog Ink. A beautiful black pitt bull. RIP my friend.
    Herman Davenport

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