Swim With Mike Celebrating 45 Years of Scholarships

After a dirt-biking accident left All-American swimmer Mike Nyeholt paralyzed in 1981, Swim With Mike Foundation co-founders Mike and Ron turned tragedy into triumph.

Together, with the assistance of fellow USC swimming teammates and beneficiant donors, they’ve modified the lives of 310 scholarship recipients who’ve attended 163 universities throughout 47 states nationwide since Swim With Mike’s inception.

The forty fifth Annual Swim With Mike Is Set For April 11 — 4 Weeks From Today

The forty fifth annual Swim With Mike, which has offered scholarships to 322 bodily challenged athletes at 163 universities throughout 47 states, will probably be held in 4 weeks, set for April 11 at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

We are 4 Saturdays away from celebrating 45 years of affect and 45 years of supporting bodily challenged athletes as they overcome obstacles and pursue their desires.

Information on this yr’s occasion — which incorporates the return of the USC soccer group’s participation for the primary time since 2019 — is offered at SwimWithMike.org.

Highlights of this yr’s Swim With Mike occasion consists of: 

• The return of USC’s soccer squad on the occasion.

• The annual wheelchair basketball event (that begins April 10).

• The Trojan Marching Band relay race and efficiency.

• The annual USC spirit squad greatest splash competitors.

• A celebration honoring the sixtieth and fiftieth anniversaries of USC’s 1966 and 1976 males’s swimming nationwide • championships and the fiftieth anniversary of USC’s 1976 girls’s group.

There are 47 Swim With Mike recipients on this yr’s class.

Our Story

Swim With Mike has been held yearly since 1981. An occasion that began at USC has now blossomed to satellite tv for pc websites across the nation, elevating greater than $32 million for school scholarships earmarked for student-athletes to assist them overcome their tragedies and notice their full potential.

In 1981, USC All-American swimmer Mike Nyeholt was paralyzed in a bike accident that not solely modified his life however led to the formation of a nationally-renowned scholarship program that modified the lives of a whole bunch of bodily challenged athletes.

Following Nyeholt’s accident, his teammates organized a one-time fundraiser referred to as “Swim for Mike” to boost funds for a completely geared up van for his use. However, the swimathon raised considerably greater than was wanted so, at Nyeholt’s suggestion, the surplus funds had been used to create the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund at USC.

A yr later, Nyeholt—though nonetheless paralyzed—was capable of enter the water with the opposite swimmers, so the occasion’s title was modified to “Swim with Mike.”

In 2001, this system was expanded to permit scholarship recipients the chance to attend any college of their selection, not simply USC.

Today, the annual Swim With Mike occasion is a day-long community-building celebration and swimathon that’s attended by present and former scholarship recipients, in addition to supporters of this system and different visitors and VIPs.

The Swim With Mike Mission

The mission of Swim with Mike Foundation is to vary the lives of scholar athletes who’ve skilled catastrophic harm or sickness by offering scholarships, creating group and instilling hope and function.

“A drop, a ripple, a wave—join us. You can literally change a life. Together, we can do so much.” — Ron Orr, Swim With Mike Executive Director and USC teammate of Mike Nyeholt

— The above press launch was posted by Swimming World along with Swim With Mike. For press releases and promoting inquiries please contact [email protected].