SMU to Add Outdoor 50-Meter Pool to Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center
Southern Methodist University will break ground on an outdoor pool to compete its Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center, adding a significant outdoor training and meet venue in the heart of Dallas.
The $11 million project is made possible by a $2.5 million gift from the Hickman family. The Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool will include an eight-lane, 50-by-25-meter outdoor pool, with one- and three-meter diving boards. It also includes a 20-by-40-foot instruction pool for lessons or rehab sessions.
According to an SMU press release, the aquatics center will make the university the only one with both indoor and outdoor Olympic pools in the same facility.
The Hickman family’s gift is in honor of Holt Hickman, who swam at SMU from 1952-54, winning a pair of Southwest Conference team championships. He swam for coach A.R. “Red” Barr and was a teammate of SMU’s future coach, the late great George “Mac” McMillion. The indoor portion of the aquatics center, the Barr-McMillion Natatorium, is named for those two men.
Bruce Robson and Steve Lindley, the lead donors to the aquatic center bearing their name that opened in 2017, gave $6.2 million to the project. The fundraising goal for the outdoor pool took 10 months.
The new addition includes a locker room facility for both the indoor and outdoor pools, as well as outdoor showers. There will also be an indoor dryland training center specifically targeted for SMU’s diving program. The goal of the pool is not just to connect with the Dallas community but also to national swimming and water polo events to the facility.