NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former Vanderbilt men’s basketball star Shan Foster has been selected to the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, the organization announced on Tuesday.
Born in Laurel, Mississippi, Foster played his high school basketball at Bonnabel High School in Kenner, Louisiana. During his high school career, Foster was named the New Orleans Metro Most Valuable Player, all-district and first team all-state. He averaged 23.4 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks per game in his senior season.
Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer, Foster amassed 2,011 points while in Nashville. He also knocked down a school-record 367 three-pointers in his career. Foster capped his career by earning SEC Player of the Year honors as a senior as well as winning the 2008 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
Foster went on to be drafted by the Dallas Mavericks and spent multiple seasons playing overseas before retiring from basketball in 2013. He was inducted into the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and is also a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Foster, who has done extensive work to end violence against women and girls as well as with mentoring young people, is the Director of Community Engagement at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He’s also the Co-Founder of Fostering Healthy Solutions, LLC, an organization that cultivates healthy solutions to diversity issues through education, training, and execution.
Foster and his fellow inductees – Temeka Johnson, Joe McKnight and Andy Russo – will formally be inducted at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Banquet on August 2 in New Orleans.
ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS SPORTS HALL OF FAME
Hall of Famers are chosen from the following categories: sports participants, coaches, and managers who have been retired for a minimum of six (6) years of active competition in their field of sport OR who have reached 65 years of age. Athletic directors, school officials, or team executives, need not be retired or inactive in order to be eligible.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 69th year in 2025.
