BELMONT, Calif. — San Francisco State Athletics Hall of Famer John Christgau, 84, passed away on August 21, 2018 after suffering a heart attack.

Born in Crookston, Minnesota, Christau later moved to California, where he attended San Francisco State and was a member of the men's basketball team from 1957 to 1960. He graduated in 1960 and was inducted into the SF State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.

Christgau also earned a master's degree in creative writing and met his wife at San Francisco State.

Born into a family of writers it was only natural that Christau authored 11 books himself, several of which focus on sports, both fiction and non-fiction. He also penned poems, plays, and recorded a podcast about the Payless murders in San Mateo. Christau also taught English at Crestmoor High School and later at San Mateo High School, where he served as vice principal before retiring in 1990.

Christgau coached Crestmoor's first varsity basketball team, and later chronicled that experience in 2013's Michael and the Whiz Kids, which focused on his experiences as coach of the championship basketball team that featured Crestmoor's first African-American student-athlete. His first book, Spoon, was published in 1978 and won The Society of Midland Authors prize for best fiction work that year.

Before his career in education, Christgau served in the Army and was stationed in Oahu, where he was an intelligence officer.

Christgau also wrote The Origins of the Jump Shot: Eight Men Who Shook the World of Basketball, a story which delves into basketball's evolution and discovers that a number of pioneer players who can each claim credit for inventing the jump shot.