Named in 1993 for benefactors Lee and Joe Jamail, the Texas Swimming Center provides The University of Texas at Austin with one of the world’s finest facilities for all known events in competitive swimming, diving and water polo. It is modeled after the pool used in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Completed in 1977, the center includes a competition pool with a separate diving area. The diving well is known as the Skippy Browning Diving Facility in honor of David G. (Skippy) Browning, a 1953 graduate of the university who won eight Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national diving titles, four National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) national championships, and the 1952 springboard Olympic gold medal. The center’s Alderson Conference Room, is named in honor of Dr. Curtis J. (Shorty) Alderson, who introduced the sport of swimming to the Southwest Conference in 1931. He served as the university’s swimming coach for three years, winning three Southwest Conference titles.
The center provides permanent armchair seating for 1,800 spectators and about 1,100 portable folding bleacher-type seats are available on deck for additional spectators. The facility serves the needs of intercollegiate practices and competitions, as well as kinesiology and health education classes, recreational sports programs and events, and community programs, camps and special events.
