The Heritage Association Spotlight was created to profile USC student-athlete alumni who have given back to the university.
This month, we sat down with USC All-American swimmer Mike Nyeholt. After breaking his neck in a motorcycle accident in 1981, Nyeholt has continued to support USC Athletics and continues helping other athletes with physical disabilities fund their college dreams through his annual Swim With Mike fundraiser.Â
Although the first Swim With Mike event in March of 1981 was called Swim For Mike, and was meant to be a one-time fundraiser to help buy a specially equipped van for Nyeholt, over 30 years later the event has soldiered on. The 37th Annual Swim With Mike event will take place at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center this Saturday from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.The first event raised about $50,000, but now Swim With Mike brings in over $1,000,000 a year to help fund scholarships for these student-athletes to attend college. Originally intended for people that would attend USC, the program has now raised more than $18,000,000 and provided over 200 scholarships to physically challenged athletes at about 100 different universities. All this and more has drastically exceeded Nyeholt's expectations.
Fernando Stepensky (FS): In your own words, what is Swim With Mike?
Mike Nyeholt (MN): It's probably the most incredible fundraising thing that is done by a volunteer organization that has ever been put together. Swim With Mike obviously started when I broke my neck in 1981. Good friends and family members got together out of frustration of me kind of no longer being able to take care of myself anymore because I was confined to a wheelchair. So, they thought they would try and raise some money to help me out and raised an excess of $50,000. Obviously, I was overwhelmed. I used some of the funds to purchase a van, and I made a comment there, that day of the event, that my father was swimming for me that day and I would be swimming in the following years on my own, meaning that I wasn't going to let this setback of paralysis define my life going forward. My thoughts were that I was going to improve, get better, and be back in the pool swimming.Â
My good friend Ron Orr, who I had gone to high school with and was my college teammate at USC, took that statement and then I called him up and said, 'Why don't we take the rest of those funds and put it towards a scholarship?' because I certainly wasn't in need of the entire amount of money that they had raised. You put those two things together and that is how Swim For Mike became Swim With Mike. The Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund has been more than he or I could have ever dreamed it would become. I obviously didn't think it would be going 36 years later, and we've been able to reach out and help so many deserving young men and women get college scholarships after they suffered some sort of traumatic injury.
It also, over the years, motivated me. When you injure yourself like that you have to overcome hardships, you have to get your mind straight again. It's more of a mental battle than it is a physical battle in the early years, and just the fact that we were out trying to help other people that were fighting these battles, we had to fight even harder.Â
It also, over the years, motivated me. When you injure yourself like that you have to overcome hardships, you have to get your mind straight again. It's more of a mental battle than it is a physical battle in the early years, and just the fact that we were out trying to help other people that were fighting these battles, we had to fight even harder.Â
We have one of the most extraordinary organizations ever and it's all volunteers, and it's about friends of friends of friends and family who reach out and support. Ron likes to call it the ripple effect, which I think is awesome, and, you know, we raise in excess of $1,000,000 a year now-a-days, and put a whole bunch of people through school.
FS: When was the turning point in Swim With Mike where it really started to take off?
MN: I don't know if there was one. Year one led to year two, we raised more money than we did the previous year, and it took us a long time before we could raise $100,000 a year in one event. Then it was $200,000, then $500,000 and then it was a $1,000,000 and now we are successfully raising in excess of $1,000,000 a year. As long as you keep reaching out and helping people and it matters to them, there's a reason that you raise $100,000 and then it gets to 200, to 500, and then $1,000,000, cause you're helping folks and those folks are touched and want to give back and help others.
FS: You have repeatedly donated to USC's swim program. Why is donating to USC Athletics so important to you?
MN: Athletes at USC are given the opportunity, whether they are scholarship athletes or not, to get an incredible education, an incredibly valuable education, particularly when it comes to the Southern California area, and you have an opportunity to take advantage of that education, get a good job and hopefully give back to the university.Â
I was very impressed when years ago [former USC baseball player] Mark Prior went on to sign with the Chicago Cubs, and on his initial signing bonus gave about $200,000 back to the USC baseball program. I don't see why, if you have some sort of successful career, be it in athletics or in business or some other career, and you have the ability to maybe give back to the athletic department or athletic program that you participated in, why wouldn't you want to do that? And then that helps them get better athletes and better kids in there, and hopefully then they also take advantage of the great education and get a great career.
FS: You'll also give back in the form of speaking at graduation this year, right? How did that come about?
FS: You'll also give back in the form of speaking at graduation this year, right? How did that come about?
MN: I am giving the commencement speech at the USC School of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, which came about because of a physical therapist that my mother started using. I got a message from her late that said, 'I was so happy to hear that you had accepted the offer to speak,' so I am assuming that she put my name out, and then Ron Orr accepted it. I hope I am able to do a decent job for those kids.
If you are a member of the USC student-athlete alumni community, or would like more information about the Heritage Association, please click here!
If you are a member of the USC student-athlete alumni community, or would like more information about the Heritage Association, please click here!
