Oct. 21, 2002

By Jonathan Gust, Villanova Media Relations

Randy Foye is wise above his years. He has gone through more - highs and and especially lows - than most 18 year olds. Yet he has withstood it all and stands stronger today because of it.

Foye had a difficult childhood, losing his father to a motorcycle accident when he was three, and his mother who left him when he was six years old. To this day, he does not know why his mother left or whether she is even alive.

When Foye's mother left, he went to live with his grandmother not far from the house he used to call home. He spent a great deal of time with his grandmother, even before, so they already had the type of tight-knit bond usually reserved for parents.

Foye's support system was strong. His grandmother warned him of the do's and don'ts and made sure he went through life the right way.

"Losing my parents was tough," said Foye. "I'm glad I wasn't like 11 or 12 when it happened because it would have been much harder. But because it happened when I was younger, I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't really have an excuse for being bad. If my mother and father were there, I would do what they wanted me to do. So I didn't ever use my parents as an excuse to take advantage of situations. I never misbehaved and then said, 'well I didn't grow up with no father so that's why I did such and such'."

"I put it inside my own head that I was a man. I was street smart. But I definitely think it was better that it happened when I was young - losing my parents. Everything happens for a reason."

Foye had plenty to occupy his time during his childhood as he played whatever sport was in season at the time. He excelled in baseball and basketball in particular.

"I didn't know how good I was at basketball until the day I went out and started playing," said Foye. "It automatically came - the ball handling and everything. I was never a person that had to work on it to get to where I wanted to be. But I always worked hard at everything and that's what sets me apart."

Foye excelled on the baseball diamond in addition to the basketball court, but his size and skills seemed a perfect fit for the hardwood.

"When you looked at me when I was like in seventh or eighth grade, you would have thought I was going to be like 6-7 or 6-8," said Foye. "And I had guard skills so they thought I was going to be like a Lamar Odom or an Al Harrington. I was like the biggest person on the court and I was playing point guard. But I was faster than everyone on the court. I wouldn't do a lot of posting up. I would go to the hole real strong and if I missed I would just get my own rebound."

Foye's amazing skills at such a young age turned the heads of a number of big-time New Jersey high school programs. He chose to stay on the public school scene and attend Newark Eastside High School.

"I always knew in my heart that I was staying and going to Eastside," said Foye. "I'm a city kid. I couldn't be in a program where I didn't feel comfortable. I wanted to show the younger kids coming up that you don't have to go to a catholic school just to make it to a good college. You can do what you gotta do in a public school. My high school was like real life. We had all different types of people - there were like 47 different races of people there. I saw a little bit of everything. It got me ready for the real world."

In order to go to Newark Eastside, which was quite far from his grandmother's home, Foye had a tough decision to make. He had to leave the person who raised him in his grandmother and move with his aunt who lived closer to his high school.

"I lived with my grandmother ever since that happened with my parents," said Foye. "But my ninth grade year, we were living far from Newark Eastside. We were living in North Newark so to catch the bus for the school where I was going, I would have had to leave at like five in the morning. I told my grandmother that I thought it was best for me if I move with my Aunt Ruth. I don't think she really wanted me to, but after a while she realized why I had to do it. Me and my Aunt Ruth - we had a good relationship too- but our relationship grew to that tight bond where nothing could come between us. Even now, I give my grandmother and my aunt a call like twice a week."

Foye had high hopes for Newark Eastside when he began his career, but a scandal within the program before his sophomore season almost tore those dreams apart. Five foreign players were deemed ineligible by the school, and head coach Ed Leibowitz resigned as a result.

"When it first happened I felt bad because those kids weren't bad kids," said Foye. "They didn't know the situation they were coming into. They were just coming in to help and get where they needed to go. But I wasn't going to give up just because something bad happened."

Foye realized he needed to be the leader of his team to take them where he wanted them to go. He worked harder than anyone on the team and it translated into his unique presence on the court. His tremendous play on the court surprised everyone but himself.

"To tell you the truth, nobody really knew I was that good," said Foye. "Everybody always knew me from playing ball but nobody knew I was that good until my sophomore year. Then my junior year, the whole neighborhood used to come to my games. When I went to school on the day of games, everybody used to come out on their porches and wish me luck and ask what time the game was."

"My sophomore year, I went out and played so hard on defense that I wouldn't know how to score," added Foye. "When I went to score, I would be so tired. So I worked hard to get myself in shape. The last five games I had thirty or more and had a triple double. My coach told me at the end of the year, 'you're gonna be like Jason Kidd" and that's what I try to do."

That's exactly what Foye did, loading up the boxscore with unbelievable numbers that spanned every category from points to rebounds to assists. He was invited to the well-known ABCD Camp following his sophomore season and had experts labeling him as one of the top guards and players in the country.

"Right after my sophomore year, I went to the ABCD Camp and absolutely killed," said Foye. "I started at the point and T.J. Ford started at the two. I opened up everything, brought my whole game. After that, that's when I knew I was good. I started getting attention from some big name schools. I started getting so many calls. I would get 80 letters at a time sometimes. The mailman would come straight to me house just to get rid of all those letters."

Foye took his team to the next step during his junior campaign, helping them improve from a 9-8 mark one year earlier to an 18-10 record that season. The attention continued to increase for Newark Eastside's star guard.

"At first it's exciting because you say to yourself, 'wow, this is how everyone thinks about me?'," said Foye. "But then when the attention starts getting really heavy, you start getting a little tired of it and want it to be over. When I went to ABCD camp again my junior year, ESPN was following me. I was supposed to kill that year. I was one of the top guards coming in - something like 18th in the country overall and one of the top five guards. But I had the flu. It was so bad that I couldn't even breath. I dropped 17 in the last game, but I could only play that one game and I got criticized for it."

Despite his drop in the rankings due to his illness at the ABCD Camp, Foye took that as a challenge to work even harder and he in turn helped his team's ranking skyrocket in his final season at Newark Eastside.

Newark Eastside won 29 consecutive games and went on to win the Group 4 State Championship.

"My AAU coach always told me that if someone puts you in a situation, no matter what, just tough it up," said Foye. "I may be a young man, 18 years old, but I am already ahead of the game with the way I think. I know all the little things. I knew so much from playing AAU that I told my team that they could count on me. My team fed off of me so every time out I played as hard as I could."

Foye had big-time basketball powers Cincinnati, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and Villanova on his final list of choices, but one school stood out above the others.

"There were a lot of schools still in there," said Foye. "But at Villanova, the coaches - Coach Wright, Coach Hill - made the decision easy. I visited and just hit it off with the players and the coaches. That's where I wanted to be. At Villanova, the whole university is in this together. It's not the basketball team or the people around the basketball team. It's like everybody is in it together. That's what I like about it. That's what I like about Villanova."

Foye is one piece of a puzzle that translates into one of the nation's top three recruiting classes. The four-some of Jason Fraser, Curtis Sumpter, Allan Ray and Foye arrived on the Main Line with more hype than any other class in the school's storied basketball history. Even before these freshmen played one minute on the court, their faces graced the cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine.

"It feels great arriving like this and getting so much attention," said Foye. "But at the same time, everybody is not giving you the attention for the person that you are. It's for the person they want you to be."

"It's exciting. Of course it is pressure because we know the expectations we have. But we are just gonna come out and work harder than anyone else in the country. Most people probably say that we aren't ready, but in our eyes it is not about being ready. It's about knowing what you have to do and doing the little things to win. The hype and the expectations are so high, but I love things like that. We talk about it amongst ourselves. We say that we have to go hard every minute."

"Before the cover story in Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, I don't think Philadelphia really knew us. They knew about us. But now come opening tip everyone is gonna be watching."

Foye and the Wildcats will tip off regular season play in the Coaches Versus Cancer Classic against Marquette on Nov. 15 at Madison Square Garden.