UCLA to Build State-of-the-Art 50-meter Spieker Aquatic Center

By Phillip Whitten

LOS ANGELES, April 14. THE University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) announced this week the construction of the Spieker Aquatic Center, featuring a state-of-the-art, Olympic-sized pool. Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2007 and be completed by the fall of 2008.

The long-rumored, $10-million facility will include a 52-meter by 25-yard deep-water pool with moveable bulkhead; a diving well, and one- and 3-meter boards plus 5- and 10-meter platforms; a clubhouse with locker rooms; coaches' offices and meeting rooms. The lighted facility will hold 800 spectators in the permanent grandstand and an additional 1,700 spectators in temporary seating.

The aquatic center will be named for former UCLA swimmer R. Tod Spieker, who earned All-America honors during his swimming career for the Bruins from 1968 to 1971. Tod, president of the Spieker Companies based in Palo Alto, California, and his wife Catherine are the lead donors.

Spieker did not really hit his stride until his years as a Masters swimmer. The owner of numerous world and American records in his age group, Spieker was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame in 2005.

In a meeting with Swimming World last month, Spieker said: “The decision to make this gift was an easy one. The benefits I received as a student-athlete at UCLA have assisted me throughout my adult life. Now that we are in a position to give back, we want to help provide those same benefits to the Bruin student-athletes of today and tomorrow.”

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