Athlete. Broadcaster. Businessman. Began his career in sports, as half-back on the Grey Cup-winning, Balmy Beach football team in 1930, and later got his start in radio by selling advertising time for sports programs. His voice was soon heard across Canada, as one of the first to master the art of play-by-play broadcasting, covering everything from hockey to baseball, from swimming to wrestling. He delivered the first national broadcast of a Canadian football game from Molson Stadium in Montreal. The show travelled by radio signals to Toronto, and by phone lines to Vancouver and Sydney. At the time he also hosted a bi-weekly radio series called Sporting Aces where he interviewed celebrity atheletes of the day. While he continued to broadcast throughout the 40s and 50s, heading up such radio programs as the Victory Bonds radio program, and playing a key role in airing the first televised broadcast of a Grey Cup game in 1952 for CBC, he was also running a highly successful advertising company. Foster Advertising was earning upwards of $70 million annually prior to 1972, at which time he retired, selling the stock off to his employees. In the 1950s he set up the Harry E. Foster Foundation, a charity devoted to the rights and needs of the mentally retarded. Among his accomplishments was setting up the first Canadian Special Olympics dedicated to giving mentally handicapped a way to compete in sports. Numerous awards and citations were bestowed upon him, including the Order of Canada in 1971, and his induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.
Athlete. Broadcaster. Businessman. Began his career in sports, as half-back on the Grey Cup-winning, Balmy Beach football team in 1930, and later got his start in radio by selling advertising time for sports programs. His voice was soon heard across Canada, as one of the first to master the art of play-by-play broadcasting, covering everything from hockey to baseball, from swimming to wrestling. He delivered the first national broadcast of a Canadian football game from Molson Stadium in Montreal. The show travelled by radio signals to Toronto, and by phone lines to Vancouver and Sydney. At the time he also hosted a bi-weekly radio series called Sporting Aces where he interviewed celebrity atheletes of the day. While he continued to broadcast throughout the 40s and 50s, heading up such radio programs as the Victory Bonds radio program, and playing a key role in airing the first televised broadcast of a Grey Cup game in 1952 for CBC, he was also running a highly successful advertising company. Foster Advertising was earning upwards of $70 million annually prior to 1972, at which time he retired, selling the stock off to his employees. In the 1950s he set up the Harry E. Foster Foundation, a charity devoted to the rights and needs of the mentally retarded. Among his accomplishments was setting up the first Canadian Special Olympics dedicated to giving mentally handicapped a way to compete in sports. Numerous awards and citations were bestowed upon him, including the Order of Canada in 1971, and his induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.
Bio by: Patrick R
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