By: Noah Hughes, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
DANVILLE, Ky. - This final Centre College swimming & diving home meet of the season will mark an end to the home the team has held since the inception of the program in 1968. Boles Natatorium, which began construction in 1966, will be seeing its final laps this afternoon before the team moves into their new facility in time for next season.
A release in the Danville Advocate-Messenger newspaper in July of 1966 read that the yet-to-be-opened Boles Natatorium "...will be of brick and concrete measuring 123 feet long and 99 feet wide. The pool itself will be 75 feet long and 43 feet wide with six swimming lanes and low and high diving boards."
The release also noted that prior to Boles "Centre has never had a swimming pool on its main campus." The college did have a small pool prior to Boles on an auxiliary campus which was located where Danville High School now sits.
The new natatorium officially opened in February of 1968 during Centre's spring term. The facility cost $400,000 to complete and at the time was one of the only buildings of its kind in the state of Kentucky. The first meet was held on Friday, December 6, 1968 when the Colonels hosted Sewanee. Robert A. Gunkler was the first head coach of the program and was the director of the facility.
Boles the week it opened in 1968:
Photograph by Bob Ensminger originally appeared in the Danville Advocate-Messenger
The inaugural home schedule featured Sewanee, Morehead State University, Union College (Ky.), and Berea College. In 1970, Centre hosted the school's first championship in the pool when the College Athletic Conference championship meet was held on February 27-28.
The natatorium was named for Mr. and Mrs. Ewing T. Boles, Class of 1916. Boles, a native of Williamstown, Ky., was president, CEO, and chair of the board of The Ohio Co., one of the nation's first capital investment firms. He also served as chair of the Centre board of trustees from 1964-1969. Renovations to the facility were made in the early 2000s and the pool was dedicated in honor of Craig W. Johnson, Class of 1975, during Homecoming on October 23rd, 2004.
Centre swimming & diving has had 31 All-Americans in the time the program has called Boles Natatorium home. The Colonels have also had numerous Southern Athletic Association Champions and NCAA qualifiers.
The new home to the swimming and diving programs is inside the new facility being built behind Joe McDaniel Field at Andy Frye Stadium as part of the Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence. The swimming and diving competition area will feature a 10-lane, 50-meter pool with a moveable bulkhead, an integrated diving well with 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, a video board, and seating for 700 spectators.
