A Gator Love Story Forever Engraved
It’s a one-of-a-kind SFSU love story. Charles Conway planned 10 years ago to propose to his girlfriend, Amy Brandt, by the Gator statue in front of the Gymnasium. He bought a commemorative brick (pictured below), engraved in the pavement of Don Nasser Plaza in front of the statue. Written on it:
Will you marry me Amy B
I love you forever
Charles C
The brick was Conway’s donation to SFSU but also his 10-year secret. Brandt never knew about it until 2025. On April 22, Conway drove her to a surprise destination. “I sort of knew what was going to happen when we got in the car and headed south, which could have been a variety of places on this side of town,” Brandt says.
Conway drove onto campus, where they shared countless memories together but rarely visited anymore. “I told her how much she meant to me and how much I cared about her, and that I wanted her to know that I’ve been thinking about proposing to her for a long time,” Conway says. “And then that’s when I walked her over to the bricks and said, ‘I want you to look at something.’ And while she was reading the brick is when I got down on one knee and had the ring ready for her.”
Brandt became so emotional that she struggled to get the word “yes” out. “It felt like I was in a rom-com,” Brandt says. “It felt like this really magical, special moment between us.”
SFSU wasn’t even necessarily the twist of fate that caused them to meet, but the University remains close to their hearts.
It was the apartments section of Craigslist: “We like to call it the original dating app,” Conway jokes. It was 2008 and Conway was seeking an affordable place to live as a transfer student from New Mexico playing on the Gators soccer team. He found a Daly City house, “The Green Machine,” where Brandt had moved after living in the Towers residence hall.
They became best friends immediately, starting with earnest flirtation. They talked to each other through the shared wall of their bedrooms. Brandt didn’t own a car, so they coordinated their schedules so they could drive his pickup truck to campus together. “It just sort of evolved into the relationship that we’re in now,” Conway says. “We have really rooted each other on.”
Brandt and Conway held their wedding in San Francisco in November. Their SFSU experiences remain a major inspiration for their careers and passions. Now a partner at the Liebert, Cassidy, Whitmore law firm, Brandt (B.A., ’10) previously worked at SFSU in Human Resources and Risk Management. Conway (B.A., ’11) was a student worker for University Housing, and after graduation he worked in University Property Management. He now is interim director of facilities at University of California, San Francisco.
“We’re really grateful for how much SF State has given back to us and helped shape who we are today,” Conway says.
“The University has been so great to us, and we’ve been not so silently cheering it on and trying to be a part of it where we could, as we work to build our lives here in San Francisco,” Brandt adds. “It’ll always be a really special place.”