2009 Male Amateur Athlete of the Year

Shan Foster

Shan Donte Foster is a professional basketball player drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 51st overall pick in the NBA draft. Last year at this time, Foster was lighting up the scoreboard for the Vanderbilt Commodores as their shooting guard, becoming the school's all-time leader in both points and three-point baskets made and is among the SEC all-time leaders with consecutive games with a made three-pointer.

Going into his senior year, Foster was regarded as one of the deadliest long-range shooters in the NCAA and helped lead the Commodores to their best start in school history including his game-high 32 point performance that led the Commodores to an upset over then top-ranked Tennessee volunteers at Memorial Gymnasium.

Foster gave his greatest performance in the final home game of his college career when he hit nine consecutive three-pointers and unleashed a career-high 42 points on the 25th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, to push then 16th-ranked Vanderbilt to a dramatic 86-85 overtime victory. This gave the Commodores their first undefeated season at Memorial since the 1992-1993 season. The point total tied for second-highest single-game performance in Vanderbilt men's basketball history.

At the conclusion of the regular season, Foster was named the 2008 SEC Player of the Year by both the SEC coaches and the Associated Press, AP second team All-America, the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, 2008 Rivals.com first team All-America, 2008 CBS second team All-America, 2008 Dickie V All Solid Gold Third Team, 2008 Sports Illustrated Third Team All America and graduated from Vanderbilt on May 9, 2008 with a degree in human and organizational development.