By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Logan Foust has enjoyed nice views running up and down area high school football fields for a couple of seasons.
That’s just a small window compared to what he has seen in his other passion.
Foust, a Southern Alamance senior running back/linebacker, pilots airplanes.
“I guess it’s normal to me,” he says. “But I’m sure it’s not normal to everybody else. It’s kind of different.”
The piloting hasn’t come about by chance. Chris Foust, his father, pilots for leisure, and 16-year-old brother Evan Foust has taken up the hobby as well.
In Logan’s case, his interest in piloting took off after those early flights as a teenager.
“It just kind of went from there,” says Kristin Foust, his mother. “He got more serious. He wanted to go on and get his license. … It’s amazing to see a kid sit and really study because he wants something so much.”
Logan flew solo on his 16th birthday.
As a mother, there are anxious moments – whether her son is in a football uniform or flying suit.
“When you think about it – nervous, but excited,” she says of the flying. “He has had a lot of training.”
Just like in football, there are mentors for Foust in the air. Those have come aplenty with observation flights with a local charter company.
Ride-a-longs on the East Coast – often during overnight hours – have provided valuable seat time and given him glimpses of big cities from a different perspective.
Foust’s flying time is reduced during football season.
Yet Southern Alamance’s coaches marvel at their standout’s pastime.
“It’s one of the coolest things,” assistant coach Kyle Deadmon says. “Back in the summer, we’d ask him where he had gone the night before. It’s really neat that he does that in his spare time.”
Foust has little down time with the Patriots (11-1), who’ll play in the third round of the Class 3-A state playoffs Friday night against visiting Fayetteville Sanford.
While in the air at the controls of an aircraft provides certain thrills, it’s on the ground where Foust is most productive on the football field.
“It’s mentality, too. You’ve got to have the mindset that you’re just going to go in there and dominate whoever is in front of you, and that’s what I like to do. Whoever is in front of me is going to get hit, and I’d rather hit them harder than they hit me.”
– Southern’s Logan Foust
He has cranked out yards at alarming rates. His 272-yard effort in September at Williams set a single-game school record until he broke it with 283 yards last week against Jacksonville. He has rushed for nearly 3,000 yards in his junior and senior seasons combined.
Southern’s run-oriented approach would suggest a physically taxing role for Foust, who’s regularly sent with the ball into the heart of the line of scrimmage. He has dismissed the notion that there’s wear and tear on the body despite three games this season when he has carried the ball 40 or more times.
“I run all the time. Eat the best I can,” he says of the conditioning. “Drink about 1½, 2 gallons of water a day. Keep my body hydrated and tip-top performance.”
At close to 200 pounds, Foust has been durable. He emphasizes the goal of inflicting the pain with his approach rather than absorbing punishment.
“It’s mentality, too. You’ve got to have the mindset that you’re just going to go in there and dominate whoever is in front of you, and that’s what I like to do,” he adds. “Whoever is in front of me is going to get hit, and I’d rather hit them harder than they hit me.”
Still, it seems taxing to Southern offensive guard Lee Sharpe, who has been blocking for Foust since youth leagues.
“Sometimes I wonder how he gets up Saturday mornings [after Friday night games],” Sharpe says. “It just blows my mind sometimes. But he enjoys it.”
Foust is uncertain about his football future. Flying figures to be in his plans, perhaps as a profession.
“I would definitely do it after school,” he speculates. “If I don’t go play college football, I’ll probably go to flying and work with my dad during the day.”
