San Diego State Celebrates 50th Anniversary

(Photo by Anna Scipione)

The San Diego State men’s lacrosse team celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend. The signature event was a golden anniversary banquet at the Fowler Room on campus on September 19.

More than 120 guests attended the breakfast. The program covered the history of Aztec Lacrosse, recognized past head coaches, team presidents (pictured above) and hall of fame members. Additionally, and extensive list of service to lacrosse by alumni in the form of coaching, administration and officiating was revealed.

The event featured a guest speaker, Ted Leitner. The sports broadcaster and television personality entertained the crowd for 25 minutes. Interestingly, Leitner’s career in San Diego began shortly after SDSU Lacrosse began in the 1977 season.

The program presented a distinguished service award to Bob Duggan. An alumni of SDSU, Duggan has served the San Diego lacrosse community for more than 50 years. He has been prominent official, assignor and a mentor to scores of referees over the years. Duggan has been active in youth, high school, college and post-college lacrosse since 1975.

Duggan was presented the award by Gary Alabaster ‘77 (see photo above), another accomplished former Aztec alum referee. Alabaster was a member of the 1976-77 inaugural SDSU team. He and a handful of teammates attended the banquet and were recognized at the event.

The alumni board and the program also announced new giving opportunities for alumni and friends of the program. “The next 50 Years” features donors being able to give through planned giving, an endowment and monthly recurring payments. The program has already raised more than any previous year and has a goal of $50K for the 2026-27 season.

Bonnie Akashian ‘84 and Levon Akashian ‘83 were called out for the recent gift made to Aztec Lacrosse. Bonnie worked as an administrative professional at SDSU and Levon was a career school teach. The only husband-wife duo in the SDSU Men’s Lacrosse Hall of Fame, they have committed a planned gift in their name to the program. With their contribution, it was announced that and more than $150,000 has been dedicated to the new endowment.

The breakfast concluded with the alumni and the Aztecs presenting current head coach Bryan Bome with a vintage native American-style lacrosse stick with his name gold-plated on the shaft. The history of SDSU Lacrosse is impressive, but under Bome it has reached new heights. The team has made three straight MCLA national tournaments and has a 36-14 record (.720 winning percentage) in that span. The upcoming 2027 season will be his ninth leading the Aztecs.

After the breakfast, the alumni and team played its annual game. Despite some impressive moments by the alumni, the current team (roster of 64 student-athletes) dominated the game. This year’s action featured separate “Old Aztecs” sessions: a 6-on-6 half field session as well as younger alumni battling full-field.

The Aztecs compete in a local Fall league and will play October 24 at Concordia in Irvine, an NCCA Division II team. On November 7 the fall season concludes with a play day with UCSD, USC and Cal State San Marcos on November 7. The 2027 season schedule will be released soon.