Photos of San Jose State Spartans SID Lawrence Fan (left) holding up Fan Cakes and (right) addressing the news media at San Jose State University (file photos by San Jose State Spartans)

By Michael Duca and Ana Keiu

SAN JOSE–Lawrence Fan, the longtime SID for the San Jose State Spartans, has passed away at age 67, as announced by the Spartan Athletic Director Jeff Koyna Wednesday afternoon. The news of Lawrence’s passing was a shock to Spartan athletes, employees, members of the media, students and alumni, as many had just seen Lawrence at work Monday.

It was reported that Lawrence, who normally showed up to work like clockwork, didn’t call or show to work on Tuesday and the University became concerned and later learned of his passing on Wednesday as announced by Koyna.

Lawrence worked with thousands of student and student athletes over his illustrious 42 year career. Many can look back and thank Lawrence for his advice and helping them advance whether it was in athletics or in their media careers.

One of the highlights for Lawrence was in 2012 when he was elected to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. Lawrence, started as an SID at SJSU in 1980, (that was the same year that the hit movie The Blues Brothers was a box office smash), never missed work and worked all the sports at the University.

Former Spartan football player Neil Perry suffered amputation of a leg, but returned to playing football for the Spartans in 2003 for eight games. Needless to say, this inspirational story drew national attention. A flood of press coverage at his first game was one of Lawrence’s many shining moments. Lawrence was inundated with media requests from all over the country, which at the time Lawrence said was the busiest period he had ever had at Spartans football.

Another highlight for Lawrence was the 2020 football team that went 7-1, an almost perfect season. That Spartan team took the Mountain West by storm finishing finishing ahead of second place Boise State by two games. We never got a chance to interview Lawrence about his long 42 year career but what stories he could have told. 

Lawrence was also know for Fan cakes, which were served to the media during Spartans basketball games. It was a treat that everyone that covered Spartan games looked forward to.

The Spartan’s women basketball team were playing Air Force at SJSU in a 68-59 loss when officials learned of Lawrence’s passing. The Spartan women didn’t learn about the shocking news until 1:30 pm.  All athletic staff and athletes  were in a state of disbelief  at the news.