When former LSU basketball player Joe Dean studied at the University in the late 1940s, checking out sun-bathing women was a spring tradition.
He and his buddies would congregate on the upper deck of the Huey P. Long pool, gaze down at young belles lying near the blue water and scout out the finest weekend dates.
Dean, who later became the University’s athletics director, said the “gorgeous” pool in the Fieldhouse was the social spot on campus.
 “That’s where boys fell in love with girls,” he said.
But the University closed the pool in 2002, and since then, the historic escape for students and faculty has deteriorated so badly it may be too expensive to fully repair. The roof, walls and windows of the building are slated for renovations to start this Spring, but officials say they do not have the money to restore the pool.
Bill Obier, a senior project manager for State Facility Project Planning and Control, said the renovations to the building’s “envelope,” or structure, are important to ensure that if the University does get the money to renovate the pool, the structure will be strong.
Obier said not keeping up with the maintenance on the archaic building led to its extreme deterioration.
With a few empty beer cans and remnants of Wendy’s fast food scattered around the pool, it looks like a secret party spot for some. For others armed with spray paint, the abandoned pool, locker rooms and racquetball courts in the basement are canvasses for graffiti.
LSUPD officers have said they frequently check the area, sometimes finding candles still burning, drug paraphernalia and chairs strewn around.
It’s not just trash and paint that plague the building. Broken windows, busted pipes, crumbling brick and rust cover nearly everything in the building, making it expensive to repair.
Wanda Hargroder, a kinesiology instructor who taught life-saving courses in the pool in the summers from 1986 to 1988, said the pool is expensive to maintain, especially with its age. But she said she would still like to see it renovated.
She said when the pool was open, the kinesiology department would have classes in the mornings and open it to the public in the afternoon and weekends.
Hargroder said the pool was an excellent teaching pool because it has a large shallow end for beginners and a separate deep end for advanced students.
Even though the building has no wheelchair ramps and is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Hargroder said it was easy to teach people with disabilities in the pool because of the large shallow end.
“We don’t have that anywhere else on campus,” Hargroder said. “We went from having four pools accessible to students to one.”
The only pool open to students now is at University Recreation.
Hargroder also said alumni often come back and want to tour the Fieldhouse.
“That building has great historical value to alumni here,” she said.
And Dean, who said he met his wife in the Fieldhouse, agreed.
“That place has a history,” he said. “Kids would pack the upper deck. It was a gathering place.”
Obier said his office is dealing with many historic buildings across the state where officials have put off maintenance.
“Many of these buildings are too old, but [the buildings] are on [the] national register of historic places, so we have to try to fix the original,” he said.
Obier said he expects to see plans from an architect within the next couple weeks. Construction is likely to begin in May or June.