Changes

Fant was affiliated with the NLU Booster Club and Alumni Center, the Monroe [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Bayou Desiard Optimist Club, the National and Louisiana Basketball Coaches associations, the Masonic lodge, and the Shriners.<ref name=obit>Lenny O’Neil Fant obituary, bayou.com, accessed January 4, 2009; no longer on-line</ref>

Fant was affiliated with the NLU Booster Club and Alumni Center, the Monroe [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Bayou Desiard Optimist Club, the National and Louisiana Basketball Coaches associations, the Masonic lodge, and the Shriners.<ref name=obit>Lenny O’Neil Fant obituary, bayou.com, accessed January 4, 2009; no longer on-line</ref>

He died two weeks before what would have been his seventy-fifth birthday after an eighteen-month battle with [[colon cancer]]. He was preceded in death by his wife, the former Jo Hethcox. Survivors included his son, Lynn Fant (1951–2012), a native of Talladega, [[Alabama]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenewsstar/obituary.aspx?n=lynn-fant&pid=157954686&fhid=12527|title=Obituary of Lynn Fant|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|accessdate=November 9, 2019</ref> daughter Wanda Fant Smith and husband, Vance; grandchildren, Brandon Cruse; Janna Smith; Bo Smith; and Shawna Smith Grant, all then of West Monroe, and a brother: J. D. Fant of [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]].<ref name=obit/>

He died two weeks before what would have been his seventy-fifth birthday after an eighteen-month battle with [[colon cancer]]. He was preceded in death by his wife, the former Jo Hethcox. Survivors included his son, Lynn Fant (1951–2012), a native of Talladega, [[Alabama]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenewsstar/obituary.aspx?n=lynn-fant&pid=157954686&fhid=12527|title=Obituary of Lynn Fant|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|accessdate=November 9, 2019}}</ref> daughter Wanda Fant Smith and husband, Vance; grandchildren, Brandon Cruse; Janna Smith; Bo Smith; and Shawna Smith Grant, all then of West Monroe, and a brother: J. D. Fant of [[Memphis]], [[Tennessee]].<ref name=obit/>

Fant's funeral service was held at the Ewing Coliseum, the basketball arena built during his coaching era. Pastors Stuart Toms and William Smith officiated. Ewing Coliseum was subsequently renamed the Fant-Ewing Coliseum. To the right of his casket was the basketball from his 300th win, a 95–73 victory in 1974 over [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans]]. The Reverend Smith, Fant's pastor at Lakeshore Baptist Church in Monroe, called him an "extraordinary ordinary man".<ref name=fant/>​

Fant's funeral service was held at the Ewing Coliseum, the basketball arena built during his coaching era. Pastors Stuart Toms and William Smith officiated. Ewing Coliseum was subsequently renamed the Fant-Ewing Coliseum. To the right of his casket was the basketball from his 300th win, a 95–73 victory in 1974 over [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans]]. The Reverend Smith, Fant's pastor at Lakeshore Baptist Church in Monroe, called him an "extraordinary ordinary man".<ref name=fant/>​