San Francisco Ballet continued to serve as the school's director until his retirement in 1975. In 1938, the company's first major production was "Coppélia", choreographed by Willam Christensen. In 1940, it staged "Swan Lake", the first time that the ballet was produced in its entirety by an American company. On Christmas Eve 1944, the company staged "Nutcracker"—the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece ever danced in the United States. In 1942, San Francisco Opera Ballet split into two independent companies, ballet and opera. The ballet half was sold to Willam and Harold Christensen. Willam became artistic director, while Harold took on
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