By Dan Ninham
Shelly Foster was recently inducted into the 2025 North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame. She is a member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and a descendant of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
In 1992 Foster was named Bemidji Pioneer’s Northwoods Athlete of the Year during her junior year at Cass Lake High School and was a formidable force to contend with in volleyball, basketball, and track.
In 1993 she was on the 19U Team Minnesota volleyball team that earned the bronze medal at the North American Indigenous Games in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Foster walked on to the #1 nationally ranked Stanford University Volleyball team the spring of her sophomore year and played two seasons for the Cardinals as a libero. She holds a 1994 NCAA Division 1 national championship ring and helped the Cardinals complete the 1995 season as semifinalists in the Final Four tournament.
She was offered a full ride scholarship after her second year playing for Stanford, but due to the discovery of previous NCAA rules violations committed by Stanford, she had to end her collegiate volleyball career early.
“Stanford’s Native American organization sent me a recruitment message regarding academics early during my senior year,” Foster said. “I didn’t even know what Stanford was, so I threw the letter in the garbage thinking there was no way I was going all the way to California for school.”
“A few weeks later they called me and said they would fly me out on their own budget and put me up for a few days to get a feel for the college. That was an offer I could not resist so I packed a bag and flew off to the Golden State,” added Foster.
“The minute we drove down Palm Drive, I knew my plans were changing,” said Foster. “There were volleyball nets everywhere and so many people playing grass volleyball. I saw a dream of a place I didn’t know I even had.”
“Since I was recruited academically by the Native American group and was not recruited for a sport I decided I would try out for the volleyball team,” said Foster.
“I was basically intrinsically motivated to walk on at Stanford due to my love of volleyball,” said Foster. “I knew I would be going to Stanford primarily for academic reasons but I did not want to give up playing my favorite sport. I had been told by at least one person that it would be next to impossible to make that team and even had a coach I knew at the time outright say ‘you aren’t going to do it. You know they are #1 in the nation, right?”
Indeed Stanford University was ranked #1 in the nation in the 1993 NCAA D1 polls. The Cardinals had eventually four national championships in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997.
Foster asked head coach Don Shaw if she could try out and was told they already had pre-season training and the first match was soon. He allowed a few to do a one day try out and none made it.
“Coach Don came up to me after the try-out and said that I had raw talent and by that he meant raw,” said Foster. “So he said if I practiced up I could try out again in the spring. So I did just that, I set my own training regimen up at the gym and played men’s intramural and outdoor grass all fall and winter and when I tried out for the team again in the spring … I made it!”
“Coach said I made it for my grit factor,” said Foster. “He thought I could inspire the other girls to work harder since I was such a hard worker. And that was my role inspiring other D1 athletes to never get lazy and always do your best.”
“The most accomplished and proud moment of all of my Stanford volleyball career is the day Coach came up to me after practice and told me that he was proud of how far I came since day one,” said Foster. “He said they would be offering a full ride scholarship until I was ready to graduate. He said I earned it through my hard work and dedication to the team but also that my grit inspired the whole team to work harder.”
“I was overjoyed and called home and told my parents the news and it was very serendipitous to get a full ride offer because my parents told me they didn’t know if I could continue at Stanford. Earning a full ride was a perfect solution to that dilemma.”
“In 1995 we lost the first round of the final four to Texas,” said Foster. “We went home with heavy hearts that winter. Coach called me at home and I knew it was not for a good reason. He told me he was so sorry but they had to rescind the scholarship he offered.”
Stanford had rules violations and in 1996 they had a scholarship withdrawn as a penalty. The university team could only offer 11 scholarships and the 12th was for Shelly Foster.
With the support of the Mille Lacs Band and a non-athletic Stanford scholarship, Foster was able to attend Stanford but not be on the volleyball team. She graduated from Stanford University and her mother’s efforts to get her back in school and the Mille Lacs Band support enabled her to do it.
“I was a big fish in a small pond in Cass Lake and a small fish in a big pond at Stanford,” said Foster. “I was once the worst of the best and humbled yet determined by this great life.”
