Inside The Huskies

Player Who Overcame Heart Issues Has UW Among 3 Portal Finalists

Tyon Grant-Foster played the past two seasons for Grand Canyon and flourished.
Dan Raley|
Grand Canyon Antelopes guard Tyon Grant-Foster (7) shoots a 3-pointer during the first half against Maryland Terrapins in Seattle.
Grand Canyon Antelopes guard Tyon Grant-Foster (7) shoots a 3-pointer during the first half against Maryland Terrapins in Seattle. | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

Tyon Grant-Foster, a former Grand Canyon swingman who survived serious heart issues to return to top basketball form, has narrowed his transfer portal choices to Arizona State, Gonzaga and Washington, according to 247Sports.

The 6-foot-7 player drew headlines in 2021 when he collapsed at halftime of DePaul's season opener against Coppin State, collapsed again during a pick-up basketball game in his native Kansas City and didn't play for 16 months.

Grant-Foster subsequently was told he would never play competitive basketball again. Yet he underwent a couple of heart surgeries, spent a lot of time at the Mayo Clinic and he comes off a pair of successful seasons -- including being named 2024 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

In fact, he played his most recent game in Seattle, in the NCAA Tournament against Maryland at Climate Pledge Arena.

Now 25 years old, Grant-Foster is preparing for a seventh season of college basketball.

This past season, he started 17 of the 26 games he played for a 26-8 Antelopes team, averaging 14.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per outing. He missed eight games with an undisclosed injury.

During the 2023-24 season, Grant-Foster was at his very best after his long layoff. He averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks an outing for a 30-5 team that advanced to the NCAA tourney in Spokane.

Grant-Foster began his college career with two solid seasons at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa, bringing him to Kansas, where he played in 22 games and averaged just 3.1 points and 2.2 rebounds per outing.

He transferred to DePaul for the 2021-22 season but played in just that one fateful game. Grant-Foster jogged to the locker room at halftime, felt light-headed and collapsed among his teammates. The training staff resuscitated him and he spent 10 days in a hospital while having a defibrillator implanted.

By all accounts, Grant-Foster hasn't had any reoccurring heart issues.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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