In the hallway leading to the William Dobson Burton Aquatic Center, a Sports Illustrated shot of divers at the 2008 IHSA State meet hosted by ETHS hangs proudly on the wall. The stands, looking more like an NBA arena than a high school pool, are packed with spectators and prospective swimmers. While ETHS’s swim teams have sent many individuals to the State tournament in recent years, from 1953 to 2005, the school was considered an Illinois swim and dive powerhouse, with an impressive four-year streak as State champions from 1953 to 1956. This early dominance was not only due to the efforts of future Olympian and Division I swimmers like Dick Hanley, it was also because of two large viewing windows underneath the pool that allowed swim and dive coaches to closely watch the form of their athletes.
In order to investigate this legendary era of ETHS sports, the Evanstonian team followed physics teacher and swim coach Andrew Minor through the pool office adjacent to the boys’ locker room and down a flight of stairs leading underneath the main pool. As the group walked along a balcony looking over the electrical inner workings of the pool, Minor explained what the space is used for.
“The engineers come down here a lot because all the pump stuff is back here – but as you can see, it’s kind of a collection area for a lot of things,” said Minor, pointing to piles of old ETHS merchandise lying haphazardly on the washer and dryer machines. Some looked like they had not been touched in years. Pipes lined the walls, floors and ceilings, and piles of dirt and dust had accumulated at doorways with signs from another era, adding to the deserted effect of the room.
“I’ve worked here 16 years, and this is only the third time I’ve been down here,” Minor remarked.
He then took the crew down from the balcony and past the large water filter: an elaborate system of pipes and pumps pouring water into a gigantic box.
Previously, ETHS swimmers had practiced at the YMCA, but in 1958, the aquatic center was built, setting a blazing trail for the future of high school swimming. At the time, the timing system for swim races was handled manually by judges, but the pool’s pioneering designers knew that timing would soon become electronic. With this knowledge, they intentionally left gaps in the wall through which an electric conduit could eventually run, additionally building tiny windows that lined the inside of the main pool so that lights could illuminate the water. They planned a stadium-style seating arrangement around the pool to create an exciting atmosphere for swim and dive meets. But the most revolutionary quality of all was the two underground windows built on either side of the main pool.
Turning a corner, the group finally got a glimpse of what they came down to see: a large window illuminating a tank of clear blue water, with seemingly no bottom or top. Electrical wires and cords were fastened to the wall, providing light to the pool.
These windows had previously been a mystery to the many students who discovered them when swimming to the depths of the pool, and Wildkits had all sorts of ideas as to what they were for.
“Maybe it’s for special camera angles of swimming,” said sophomore Emil Standley.
“I think it’s just for maintenance and to see what’s going on,” speculated sophomore Zoe Poulakidas
Even the tour guide, Minor, could only go as far as to make a guess of what they were for. It was not until lead aquatics specialist Gregory Hartman was asked that the answer was finally discovered.
“Technology did not exist at one point to be able to film underwater and break down strokes or look at entry points for dives,” Hartman informed. “So, when you had the opportunity to be able to have a visual down there to break down strokes, this pool was very forward-thinking when they put it together.”
These windows, combined with the other technologically unique traits of the pool, gave Evanston an advantage against other schools in the state in the 1950s and 1960s. As for the current pool, “It runs fine. We’re never having to shut down and do massive repairs. We only shut it down for six or seven days out of the year, to redo some of the tile work in here,” explained Minor.
Later, the invention of underwater cameras would eliminate the need for the pool viewing windows, but for the time, it was ETHS’s secret, underground weapon.
Scan this QR code to see the pool windows for yourself, and look out for the next edition of Etown Explores next month.
