The Washington Redskins of the National Football League drafted Foldberg in the fifth round in the 1947 NFL Draft, but he decided to remain in school at West Point for another year. He played professional football in 1948 and 1949, first with Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers of the AAFC in 1948, and then with the AAFC's Chicago Hornets in 1949. In his two seasons as a pro, he played in 25 games, and started 15, while catching 31 passes for 331 yards. Three teams from the AAFC merged into the NFL in 1950, and the AAFC ceased to exist thereafter.
Coaching career
Foldberg's first coaching job was as an assistant with the Purdue Boilermakers of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The following year, he returned to College Station, Texas to become a Texas A&M Aggies assistant. One of Foldberg's former assistant coaches from Army's 1944 and 1945 national championship teams, Bob Woodruff, became the head coach for the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida, and invited Foldberg to join the Gators coaching staff in 1952. Foldberg remained one of Woodruff's principal assistants through the 1959 season. Among other duties, Foldberg served as the Gators line coach. From 1960 to 1961, Foldberg served as the head football coach at the University of Wichita in Wichita, Kansas, where his Wichita Shockers teams compiled a 16–5 record in two seasons, and won two consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships. After the 1961 regular season, he accepted an offer to become the head football coach and athletic director at Texas A&M University, telling his Wichita Shockers players that it was the only job for which he would leave Wichita. He had previously turned down an offer from the University of Nebraska to coach the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team. Foldberg's 1961 Shockers were defeated 17–9 by the Villanova Wildcats in the Sun Bowl. Foldberg coached the Texas A&M Aggies football team for three seasons from 1962 to 1964. He inherited an Aggies program that had not had a winning season since former Aggies coach Bear Bryant left for the University of Alabama after the 1957 season. He was unable to duplicate his successful turnaround of the Wichita Shockers program, compiled an overall record of 6–23–1 as the Aggies head coach, and was replaced by Gene Stallings after the 1965 season. He resigned as the Aggies' athletic director in July 1965.
Life after football
Folberg was married to the former Margaret Smith, and they had a son and a daughter. After he left the coaching profession, he entered the real estate business in Arkansas. Foldberg's son, Hank Foldberg, Jr., later played tight end for the Florida Gators football team from 1971 to 1973. Foldberg died at his home in Bella Vista, Arkansas; he was 77 years old.
