San Francisco Ballet Dance Festival in Massachusetts. In 1957, it was the first American ballet company to tour the Far East, performing in 11 Asian nations. On New Year's Day 1965, ABC-TV televised a one-hour abridgement of the Lew Christensen-choreographed production of "Nutcracker" featuring San Francisco Ballet. In 1972, San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House was named the official residence of San Francisco Ballet. In 1973, Michael Smuin became co-artistic director of San Francisco Ballet with Lew Christensen; Smuin had danced with the Company from 1953 to 1961. Under his direction, the national and international profile of SF Ballet was raised significantly by
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