This Saturday will be the 32nd annual “Swim with Mike” fundraiser. This event, which has now spread to 5 campuses, raises huge money for college scholarships that go to physically-challenged athletes. For the swim geeks, the line up is stout and will include Rebecca Soni, Ous Mellouli, Janet Evans, and Jessica Hardy. For sports geeks, there are usually lots of appearances for the event by other USC student athletes.
Drawing participation of the whole campus community includes the USC song girls – who will race in innertubes. For food lovers, the barbeque is to die for. And for those who are human, it’s an awesome fundraiser for an outstanding cause honoring a former USC All-American swimmer who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident.
Who knows, maybe USC superfan Will Ferrell will show up for a race, like he did in the above video against then-football-coach Pete Carroll in 2007. In honor of this event, this week’s Celebrity Swim Tuesday is dedicated to the Pete vs. Will challenge – both are actually decent swimmers!
The show alone is worth the $20 price of admission. The fact that it’s for charity makes it worth at least three-times that.
For those who can’t make it in person, here’s a link to donate online.
LOS ANGELES–The 32nd annual “Swim With Mike” swim-a-thon fundraiser will be held this Saturday (April 14) at the USC McDonald’s Swim Stadium from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
The”Swim With Mike” event will be held in conjunction with that afternoon’s USC Football Spring Game at the Coliseum at 1:30 p.m. For $20, fans can get a barbeque lunch at the pool and free entry into the Spring Game (tickets are available at the “Swim With Mike” entrance).
There will also be a USC Athletics Moving Sale, featuring new and used items from many Trojan men’s and women’s teams, from 9 a.m. to noon on Howard Jones Field adjacent to the McDonald‚s Swim Stadium. Items include football jerseys, soccer shorts and jerseys, long sleeve workout shirts, shoes, golf equipment and more. Proceeds benefit “Swim With Mike” and the USC Family of Schools.
USC swimming coach Dave Salo, his Trojan team, Olympic gold medalists Rebecca Soni, Ous Mellouli and Janet Evans, world record holder Jessica Hardy and legendary former USC swimming coach Peter Daland will conduct a swim clinic. There will be a relay race between the USC Song Girls and USC student-athletes. A raffle and silent auction also be held, with music provided by the Trojan Marching Band.
Since 1981, $12.1 million has been raised for the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund at USC to provide 119 scholarships to USC and 53 other universities from New York to Hawaii for athletes who have overcome life-challenging accidents or illnesses.
The “Swim” began in 1981 when friends and teammates of USC 3-time All-American swimmer Mike Nyeholt rallied to his aid to help him recover from a paralyzing motorcycle accident. What was to be a one-time event, “Swim For Mike,” raised $58,000. At Nyeholt’s suggestion, the excess donations were used to establish the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund. The next year, Nyeholt joined other swimmers in the water helping raise money and the swim-a-thon became an annual event, which was renamed “Swim With Mike.”
Similar “Swim With Mike” events are being held at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center (April 6-13) and on the campuses of California (April 15), UC San Diego (May 5), Stanford (May 19) and Hawaii (Sept. 3).
