San Francisco Ballet group of his students, he founded the Utah Civic Ballet (now known as Ballet West) in 1963; the company remained under Christensen's directorship until 1978. Under Balanchine's tutelage at American Ballet, Lew Christensen became the first American-born "danseur noble". The United States Army drafted Christensen to fight in World War II. After the war ended, he joined Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Society (soon to become New York City Ballet), eventually becoming ballet master; he served in the role from 1946 until 1950. In 1951, he joined his brother Willam as co-director of San Francisco Ballet. When Willam moved to
San Francisco State Gators football San Francisco State Gators football The San Francisco State Gators football team represented San Francisco State University (formerly San Francisco State Teacher's College) from the 1931 through 1995 seasons. The Gators originally competed as an independent prior to World War II, then as a member of the Far West Conference from 1946 until the conference changed its name to become the Northern California Athletic Conference, where they remained through the 1994 season. San Francisco State played its home games at multiple stadiums throughout their history with the most recent being Cox Field in San Francisco. San Francisco State was known