Jensen: Foster was 'white father' to Philly's Gene Banks

Gene Banks, who makes any short list of great Philadelphia high school basketball players, is working on the story of his life, writing a memoir. Banks was just getting to his beloved Duke coach, Bill Foster, when he got the word last week that Foster had died Thursday in Chicago at 86.

When Banks starts talking about Foster, he really has to start at the beginning, like he did over the phone on Sunday. When Foster recruited him, Banks had no idea that the coach also was a local guy, raised in Delaware County, where Foster began coaching.

Banks kind of thought Foster was from Mars.

As a star at West Philadelphia High - a genuine star, with a citywide following - Banks had his choice of colleges. His short list, as he remembers it, was Michigan, Notre Dame, UCLA, North Carolina, and North Carolina State. Duke? They weren't winning anything.

Banks was aware of everything, though. He knew Duke's coach was in the gym one day when he scored something like 32 points and had 20 rebounds.

"He walked right past me," Banks said from his home in Greensboro, N.C. "Other coaches spoke to me. He walked right past me."

Others saw it, too. They asked Banks about it. He asked them about it. They were like, "Don't worry about it. Duke's not even a school."

Banks did worry about it. He called down to Duke's basketball office soon after that, got on the phone with Foster, and asked why he didn't speak to him.

"I didn't think you were good enough," Banks remembers Foster saying. "He hung the phone up! Unbelievable. He hung the phone up in my face. I was in my kitchen. My mom was cooking."

Banks looks back now: "He's playing with me. you've got to understand that."

And it worked, Banks said. Foster had his attention. Duke assistant coach Bob Wenzel, who went on to coach Rutgers, called to confirm there was, in fact, interest. Banks remembers Foster doing one other interesting thing, dropping off a brochure about the school, about the campus, not about the basketball program. That played to a sweet spot for Banks. At the time, Banks was talking about eventually running for governor of Pennsylvania. His English tutor talked the school up. They kind of "seeped" into the picture, Banks said.

As it turned out, Banks was the missing link to a revival show, a team that was a huge building block to what Duke basketball is today. The Blue Devils reached the NCAA title game his freshman year against Kentucky, in 1978. Banks and Jim Spanarkel and Mike Gminski were the stars.

Banks talked about Foster as a smart tactician, about utilizing a 2-3 zone that played to strengths and hid weaknesses. He also knew how to deal with personalities. Banks was a team player - Foster was always urging him to shoot more - but he had a big personality.

"I would come to his office, my first year - he'd be on the phone, he'd be on two lines, he'd be all over the place, he was doing 15,000 things," Banks said. "While he was on the phone, he reaches into a drawer, pulls out this can, an aerosol can. He puts it on the desk. I see what the can says. 'Bull Repellent.' I'm telling you, I'm sitting there. I'm coming there with some [bull]. He gets off the phone. He sprays it all around the room, closes the top, puts it back in his drawer. He says, 'OK, Tink, what is it?' "

That was Banks' nickname, Tinkerbell.

"I got up and walked out of the room," Banks said.

Later, Banks said: "I almost got kicked out of school. I got berated by the dean for an hour and a half. He sat there. That was the start of my turnaround. She was going to throw me out. He didn't say a word for an hour and a half, he just looked me in the eyes. We walked out. He said, 'Now you have to be a man.' "

The most powerful thing Foster ever did, Banks said, was when his young sister died from spinal meningitis. Foster told Banks not to worry about the next game, against North Carolina State. The funeral was the morning of the game.

"It tears me up talking about it," Banks said. "It was just a little funeral, the family. We went into the funeral home, which was in South Philly, on Federal Street. There was the little casket. Sitting right there in front of the casket was Bill Foster."

Eventually Banks found out his old coach had gone to high school just seven miles from Banks. Foster grew up in Norwood and graduated from the old Glen-Nor High. He coached at Chichester and Abington High Schools before moving on to his college stops.

After a stop at Bloomsburg, Foster coached at Rutgers, Utah, South Carolina, and Northwestern, 33 years in all. His great year was 1978, when Duke, a year after finishing last in the Atlantic Coast Conference, reached the national final. Foster was national coach of the year, and Banks was a linchpin, the ACC rookie of the year.

Foster remained in his life, Banks said, as he played in the NBA and overseas and worked various basketball jobs, most recently working for the Washington Wizards. They'd talk regularly on the phone.

Finishing up a 22-minute conversation, Banks simply said this about the man who once walked right past him: "My white father."

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus