At a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 30, Missouri Western State University celebrated the past and the future of the Thomas Eagleton Indoor Pool in the Looney Complex on campus.
The pool has undergone approximately $600,000 in renovations this summer, including renovation of the entire pool shell interior and pool deck, the addition of a new storefront entryway and ticket office that will allow patrons to enter directly from the outside, renovation of the locker rooms and the addition of a family restroom and changing area, among other improvements.
Discussions about the future of the swimming pool began in 2014, and at that time the future didn’t look promising, according to Shana Meyer, Missouri Western’s vice president for student affairs.
“At that time, we were facing lifeguard shortages; pool usage was at an all-time low; and the pool was leaking an astronomical 5 gallons of water every 45 seconds,” Meyer said. “Multiple public forums, petitions, letters, and discussions later, it seemed that the closing of the Looney pool was inevitable.”
Meyer and Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, thanked St. Joseph Mayor Bill Falkner and the Missouri Western Board of Governors stepping in with an 11th-hour proposal to save the pool with the assistance of multiple community partners.
“Late in the game, Mayor Falkner called me up one night and said ‘we just can’t let that pool go,’” Dr. Vartabedian said. “‘Let’s see if we can get together some partners and save the pool.’ And by golly, we did.”
Mayor Bill Falkner speaks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Thomas Eagleton Indoor Pool on Aug. 30, 2016.
In addition to the City of St. Joseph, who will help operate the pool, the St. Joseph School District, Buchanan County, the YMCA and others came together to make sure that all local pool users could be accommodated.
“We needed an indoor pool, and it was obvious the city couldn’t build one, so it only made sense to partner,” Falkner said. “The city council was unanimous in supporting this. We all knew the importance of what this pool meant to this community.”
The pool is named in honor of former U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton, who represented Missouri in Washington, D.C. from 1966 to 1987, after serving as the state’s Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor. Dr. Marvin Looney, president emeritus of Missouri Western, said that when the governing board realized they didn’t have enough money to add a swimming pool to the health and physical education building under construction in 1969, they reached out to the newly elected Sen. Eagleton, who promised to see what he could do.
“In just a few weeks, he had gotten enough federal money to add a swimming pool to this building,” said Dr. Looney. He also found funding for an orchestra pit for the Potter Hall Theater and other improvements. “Senator Eagleton did a lot for this campus.”
Gerald Grimaldi, a former Eagleton staff member who now serves as vice president of health policy and government relations at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, said that the name is fitting.
“As an elected official, and just as importantly in the 20 years of public service as a private citizen after he left the U.S. Senate, he was a big champion of partnerships and cooperation, and this is just a great example,” Grimaldi said, adding that Eagleton was also a champion of education, in particular higher education and public education.
Missouri Western’s students participated in saving the pool by dedicating student fees to the pool renovation project. The results are worth it, said Alec Guy, Student Government Association president.
“This will not only be a point of pride for this university and the students here, but for the surrounding area as a whole,” Guy said.
The pool will be available for “open swim” recreational use by the general public at least 30 hours per week. A daily pass is $4. Public hours can be viewed at www.missouriwestern.edu/recreation/facilities-and-hours/. For more information, call 816-271-4475.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.