TEMPE — Two days after the 2022 Sun Devil Football season concluded, Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson announced the hiring of new head football coach Kenny Dillingham at a press conference at the San Tan Ford Club at Sun Devil Stadium. At the press conference, Dillingham opened with a powerful message about how special ASU was.
"I'm home,'' Dillingham said. "I want to thank Dr. Crow, Ray Anderson, Jean Boyd, and Marcus Williams. I mean, this is literally home, home. So I say that because this place is special. The state is special. The people in this room are special."
The press conference was filled with family and friends of Dillingham, reporters, and head coaches of other programs. Still, there was also another individual who was ready to make an announcement. Nap Lawrence, a long time supporter of Sun Devil Athletics, wanted to make a bold statement and help Dillingham start his tenure on the right foot.
No one quite knew where Lawrence was going when Sun Devil Football Director of Media Relations Jeremy Hawkes called an audible from the pre-arranged question-and-answer portion of the introductory press conference, picking Lawrence to stand up and "ask a question".
"I saw Nap enter a couple minutes into the opening statements and sit down next to Danny Kush in the back row," Hawkes said. "I know Nap as an ardent, long-time support of this program and as I was working down list of Q&A's, I noticed he stood up a couple times in between to try and get a question in before the next media member in the queue got to ask theirs. This is a guy that had seen many of these press conferences and was well aware of the run of show. I just had an instinct he was someone the fans and supporters would want to hear ask a question in that moment. So, I took a chance and called on him to ask the next question."
It took a little but for Lawrence to get to the point, with a short monologue revisiting the glory days of Sun Devil Football. It was enough of a deviation from the format of the press conference that Hawkes started shifting his weight nervously wondering what he had gotten himself into and even Anderson jokingly quipped that Lawrence might have "forgotten his question".
But, Lawrence knew exactly what he was doing. He told the crowd that Dillingham was the coach that the Sun Devils needed. And with everyone waiting with bated breath to see the direction he was going, he dropped the hammer, pledging a million dollars to jump start Dillingham's plan to "Activate the Valley". His contribution earned him a standing ovation from the crowd - including all four members sitting at the dais and a relieved Hawkes, who let out a deep sigh of relief at the outcome.
"Nap came up afterwards and shook my hand and thanked me for taking a chance and calling on him in the middle of a huge press conference," Hawkes said. "He also joked that he might have a million more dollars in the bank account if I hadn't."
But for Lawrence, there was no hesitation that this was what he needed to do - a very public and very firm declaration of financial support for the new head coach from a prominent face in the Sun Devil community.
"The reason I made a little bit more out of it than I normally would do was the coach needed our help. Ray Anderson was kind enough to mention to me the day after that press conference, that they got over 148 calls that gave donations."
"Nap and his family are incredible and care at the highest levels. The latest million-dollar gift is just the most recent example of their generosity and love for Arizona State. He loves his Sun Devils, and we love the Lawrence family in return. They are committed to making us better in so many ways and every single Sun Devil is thankful," Anderson said.
Lawrence's donation was one of many contributions to ASU that have helped elevate the school since it became a state university in 1958. He has helped finance the Verde Dickey Practice Dome, weight rooms, and other facilities around ASU to help improve the success of athletics. A Sun Devil for life, Lawrence wants to see the program succeed and elevate to the level of other prominent programs across the country.
Originally from Eloy, Arizona, Lawrence was part of the initial four-year graduating class of Arizona State University in 1962, earning his degree in Marketing. He was a founding member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, and is still friends with his college roommate, Ed Sandidge, another contributor to Sun Devil Athletics.
During his time as a student, Lawrence sold life insurance to pay for his school. Once he graduated and made a living selling insurance, he was in a situation where he could give and help. "I did pretty well from the beginning but I started making donations, probably when I was in my 30s. I had much more than I needed so I looked into helping."
Lawrence went back to his hometown roots and helped the City of Eloy with its Little League Program and the town's athletic program. He makes regular donations to the city to give kids of Eloy an opportunity to excel in athletics. He's also made donations in Tempe to the YMCA to help build a gymnasium for kids to play in, and helped build up the Boys and Girls Club of Casa Grande.
"The Tempe YMCA, which takes care of a lot of underprivileged kids, needed a new gymnasium so my wife and I helped build a gymnasium, which still stands. It's awesome to see and it's helped so many kids that were able to play inside."
While helping ASU succeed and grow is his passion in life, he hopes the legacy he leaves will be the people he's helped along the way. He hopes his children, Spike and Vicki, take pride in the accomplishments Lawrence and his wife built together.
"I hope [my grandchildren] they'll take some pride in the image of the family and the legacy we built. I want them to go by some of the stuff we helped in and say, 'hey, my grandpa helped with that or my grandparents built that."
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