Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund University of Southern California • Heritage Hall 203B • Los Angeles, CA 90089-0602

Saturday, April 6 - 39th annual Swim With Mike, USC Uytengsu Aquatics Center

Friday/Saturday, April 5 & 6, 2019 - SWM Wheelchair Basketball Tournament

presented by UBS in the Lyon Center at USC

Also in 2019:

Swim With Mike Rose Bowl Aquatics Center – March 29 - April 5 / 9th annual

Swim With Mike University of California San Diego - April 27 / 9th annual

Swim With Mike Hawaii - September 2 / 15th Annual (in conjunction with the

50th annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim)

Please check out our website at www.swimwithmike.org to learn more about our fundraising activities, or to join our team as a Campaign Director!

Over $22million raised in scholarship support since 1981

Scholarship dollars awarded for 2018-19: $ 961,949

2018-19 Scholarship Recipients: 50 (39 universities nationwide)

Total number of Swim With Mike scholarship recipients: 231

Total sports represented: 60

Total universities represented: 122

We could not have accomplished this without your help. Thank you!

COMING UP

Design: M

ike Navarro /

J.R. Navarro Inc.

Swim With Mike

by theNUMBERS

Spring 2019Newsletter

Creating aNew Life

AfterTragedy

How Swim

With Mike is helping

Alumni Spotlight

Claire SnowAward winner

SC Swimmer returns to GradSchool

2

As we gear up for our 39th AnnualSwim With Mike campaign, I wouldlike to share my thankful gratitude

to our entire Swim With Mike family –each and every one of you has made anenormous, and permanent, impact on thelives of our physically challenged athletesscholarship recipients.

SWM has been generously hosted at USCsince its inception, including our expansionin 2000 when we expanded our efforts tohelp outstanding recipients outside ofUSC. Our USC family is also an integral partof our 39 years as they have graciouslyhosted our efforts and have been key toour successful ability to support our out-standing student scholars by providingtheir services. Every aspect of the successfulplanning and execution of our annual eventincludes a piece of USC. Many depart-ments on the USC campus contribute theirservice and expertise to help us achieveour goals to ensure our fundraising dollarsgo directly to student support.

As we plan each year’s event we workclosely with dedicated members in theDepartments of Transportation, PublicSafety, Facilities Management Services,Fire Safety, Parking, Hospitality, Gift Services

and Annual Giving, Sports & Recreation,the Bookstore, Athletic Teams, the USC TrojanMarching Band, Traveler and the spirit teams.

Then, our faithful deans and their staffmembers support our efforts with ads inour annual yearbooks as well as educatingour scholarship recipients. Student Affairshas been great, and we could not do allthis without the tireless help of the USCHelenes and Trojan Knights and our stu-dent volunteer organization committee.

We all hope you will join us to celebrateour 39th year on April 6 at the USCUytengsu Aquatics Center for a fun-filledday of expanded activities added to ourusual offerings. It is a great day, and wewould like you to meet our scholarshiprecipients, their families and friends. Weare creating a celebration of our missionto recognize and honor our physicallychallenged students overcoming theirtragedies with education to reach theirfull potential.

See you then,

Swim With MikeFounder and Executive Director

An enormous and lastingimpact.

The Swim With Mike Ripple Effect

231 Recipients and counting

In 1981 USC All American swimmer MikeNyeholt was injured in a horrific motorcycleaccident that changed his life forever.

Teammates, friends and family createda “WAVE” of support and the “RIPPLE”surrounding Mike’s accident began whathas been 39 years of Swim With Mike andthe USC Physically Challenged AthletesScholarship Fund.

There is no organization like Swim With Mike.We award scholarships to worthy applicantswho have participated in organized, com-petitive sports, have been accepted to afour-year or graduate level institution ofhigher education, and who have sustaineda life-changing accident or illness.

Our SWM family welcomes these incredibleindividuals – their families and friends –with open arms. In appreciation, they are in-spired to pass it on.

They host satellite events, hold fundraisers,raffles, walk-a-thons, become online Cam-

paign Directors and more. They join ourlegion of dedicated volunteers, donors andfriends who have embraced our purpose.Such gracious efforts add to our wave ofsupport, and directly affect our ability tofulfill our mission.

SWM activities have exceeded $1 millionannually for the last four years. Just 15% ofall monies raised go to administrative andevent expenses. The rest goes to our schol-arship recipients’ educational pursuits.

That’s because of you – the dedicated SwimWith Mike Family who has embraced ourmission.

So, we would all like to thank you. You havehelped change the lives of so many youngstudent athletes who faced despair andhopelessness when confronted by theirtragedies.

This is how the ripple effect works . . . a drop,a ripple, a wave . . . let’s keep it growing.

3

On our Cover:

Swim With Mike recipient Spencer Fox is shown working inhis USC Viterbi School of Engineering Lab. He holds theYvonne Bogdanovich Swim With Mike Endowed Scholarship,and will be graduating in May with a dual degree of BS in Chemical Engineering and MS in Engineering MaterialsScience.

Spencer was active in basketball, soccer, baseball, surfingand Pop Warner football before he was injured in a 2010snowboard accident. He has been a quadriplegic since then.

4 5

Dillon Connolly was an All-American memberof the USC Varsity Swim Team for four years,Team Captain in 2011 and set school records

in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke for thenine-time NCAA title team. He accomplished allthis while pursuing his BS in Industrial and SystemsEngineering, graduating in 2011.

From this he moved forward to become the DesignEngineer at Pacific Precision Products, an Irvineaerospace company. Dillon was an experienced designengineer with a demonstrated history of workingin the Aerospace Industry. He was especially skilledin product design, CAD (SolidWorks), developingcreative solutions and process efficiency (productassembly line/manufacturing efficiency).

Then, on September 13, 2014, Dillon’s world changed.

He was visiting friends in Newport Beach when theydecided to take a swim in the Pacific, just followinga major storm. But, that major storm had drasticallychanged the sand pattern of a once familiar oceanfloor causing changes in depth, especially a formerlyfamiliar four-foot-deep area.

Dillon dove, hit the sand and shattered his C5 andC6 vertebrae and severed his spinal cord 75% ofthe way through. Dillon was left paralyzed andinstantly became a quadriplegic.

Dillon’s inherent will and drive has strengthenedhim through his rehabilitation efforts and he hasreached a level where he is ready and able to takeon a new challenge in his new life. “I would saythat I am still an experienced design engineer. I amable to use the computer using my adaptive mousethat I use from my mouth. I still work on lots ofprojects and different prototypes. It’s actually oneof the few things I can do on my own.”

This Fall 2019 he will be attending the USC MarshallSchool of Business to earn his MBA, with emphasison Entrepreneurship. He has applied for a SwimWith Mike scholarship, and we wish him well inthis pursuit.

From one of Dillon’s USC Swim Teammates:

“Dillon was an incredible swimmer during his yearsat USC and an even better teammate, as shown bybeing elected team captain in 2011. His passion forbeing active was infectious. He is also extremelycreative and chose to major in engineering as aresult of that. Swim With Mike will allow him tofurther pursue that creative engine that he has andthere is no doubt in my mind that he will do greatthings with the opportunity.”

Julian Bonse, USC Swim Team 2009-2012

”

SWM Applicant Dillon ConnollySwim With Mike actually understands how much our liveshave changed first hand since it started with Mike Nyeholt

and his loving friends who raised money for him after breakinghis neck. I love that they are giving us the opportunity to makesomething of our lives. I think something that all athletes havein common is that we are endorphin junkies and crave physicalactivity. We rely on enjoying able-bodied activities for happiness.When that’s taken away, saying that it’s “an adjustment” is abold understatement. The injury takes away the ex-athlete’sindependence, their pride, their confidence, their physique, theirdignity, their manual skills and most everything they were ever goodat, and in many cases the athlete will lose many friends, or lose

their boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse (along with any game theyhad). I think it’s amazing that Swim With Mike is around to give us something back, and I wish everybody knew how important this is for the recipients.

Dillon Connolly, USC 2011

”

Swim With Mike Alum Recipient Jake Robinson (UCSDBS, MS Biology 2014) with his parents Marcus andLaurie Robinson.

Swim With Mike Alum Jake Robinson helps businesses using Biotech

Alum Profile

Swim With Mike recipient JakeRobinson is currently working

for Salesforce in San Franciscoas a biotech expert in businessdevelopment sales. He works withbusinesses to educate them in theuse of technology to grow theirbusiness and achieve increasedsuccess. He enjoys digital engage-ment in different opportunities,and specializes in healthcare.“There’s lots to do in this field,”Jake says, as we grow the biotechaspect in related business practices.”

We remember Jake, who was akid involved in every sport hecould find time for – basketball,rugby, volleyball, football, surfing,snowboarding and riding his dirtbike. But that all changed in Sep-

tember of 2008when, as he leftfootball practice,lost control of hiscar and ran into atelephone pole at50mph. The acci-dent caused threevertebrae fracturesand after 24 hoursof surgery and twomonths in thehospital, the resultsentirely changedthe world for Jake,who now thrivesas a T-9 paraplegia.

Jake, with the help of the Physi-cally Challenged Athletes Scholar-ship Fund and all its supporters,went on the achieve his lifetimedream of attending UCSD andearning a BS and a Masters in Biology as a premed student in2014.

While he was pursuing thesedegrees, he was an active partnerof the research team in the MarkTuszynski Lab, the Center for NeuralRepair, which is an elite groupselected by invitation only. Thelab focuses on the most cuttingedge of stem cell research in theworld.

The stem cell research on spinalcord injuries was just up Jake’salley, and his Masters thesis,“Optimizing Trophic Support ofNeural Stem Cell Grafts for SpinalCord Injury” was a personal topicwhich continues to stimulateinterest in the international medicalresearch community.

Jake is planning to attend the39th Annual Swim With Mike onApril 6th at USC and is lookingforward to meeting our newscholarship recipients as well asreuniting with his fellow alums,families, friends, volunteers anddonors who make aspirations likeJake’s a reality.

76

Swim With Mike con-gratulates Yvonne on

this duly deserved honor andthanks her for her tirelessefforts on behalf of our SWMfamily. Her time, effort andgenerous support have allstrengthened the cultureof giving at every level ofour Physically ChallengedAthletes Scholarship fund.

A California native, Yvonne was born and raisedin San Pedro, attended Marymount High School inPalos Verdes and went on to Marymount (’61)which is currently known as Loyola MarymountUniversity.

1961 was a busyyear, because inaddition to grad-uating from col-lege, Yvonne Valich married Louis A. Bog-danovich and settled down to start a family.

Yvonne’s family has always been first and fore-most in her life. Her four children are all proudUniversity of Southern California alums – DebbieBogdanovich Murray (’84), Laurie Bogdanovich(’87), Christine Bogdanovich Vidovich (’89) and

Lou Bogdanovich (93).

USC is also the beneficiary ofYvonne’s family focus as shehas established EndowedScholarships in the names ofeach of her four children.Debbie, for USC Women’sSand Volleyball; Laurie, forUSC Women’s Soccer; Chris-tine, for USC Women’s Bas-

ketball; and son Lou Bogdanovich has a lockernamed for him in the new USC Trojan MarchingBand facility.

Yvonne’s five grand- children have also carriedon with the fam-ily’s educational tra-dition. Tyler Murray,Drew Murray andEmily Vidovich haveall earned college

degrees. Anna Vidovich is currently a sophomorein the USC Stevens Institute of Technology as aBusiness Major and plays on the USC Women ofTroy Soccer Team, Megan Vidovich is a highschool junior where she is involved in the YMCAYouth and Government Program and workingon her interests in singing, guitar, piano andwriting music.

THE ANNUAL CLAIRE SNOW AWARD

Yvonne Bogdanovich named 2019 Swim With Mike Volunteer of the Year

Yvonne Bogdanovich

Yvonne first learned about Swim With Mikethrough Ron Orr, and the more she learned themore active she became. Her SWM endowedscholarship is currently held by Spencer Fox who willgraduate this spring from USC Viterbi Engineeringwith an MS in Materials Science. Yvonne is aSWM Campaign Director and her annual “PhantomFundraiser” always elicits a great response insupport of our SWM mission. Also, each yearshe and her daughters generously donate silentauction items to our USC SWM event, in fact her

daughters Debbie and Laurie are makingjewelry to benefit this year’s campaign.

Swim With Mike is among the fortunate ones.Yvonne’s extensive non-profit community lead-ership activity is legendary in Southern California.She is also actively involved with USC Town &Gown, Beacon House, Boys & Girls Club of LosAngeles Harbor, Marymount University, and SanPedro Peninsula Cancer Guild benefitting USCNorris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

I like to know that I made a difference,and the USC Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund is making many life-changing differences.

Swim With Mike 2019 Volunteer of the Year award recipient Yvonne Bogdanovich celebrates her birthday with familymembers and special friends as they sail the Adriatic Sea and explore their Croatian family heritage while just having fun.

“

“

98

Tod Spieker has been actively support-ing the SWM Masters Challenge since1984 by matching all funds raised

from participating swimmers. Each yearsince then he has increased this support,and more.

Tod started swimming forthe Palo Alto Swim Clubwhen he was eight yearsold, and won his first raceat age 12. He would go onto swim at Menlo AthertonHigh School and becomean All-American swimmer.

He was highly recruited byUCLA where he swam ona full scholarship for thevarsity team, earningletters all four years whilean NCAA All-Americanbackstroker. His coachesremember him as “thehardest working kid onthe team” and “dedicated and tough.”

At the same time that he was a dedicatedathlete, he was also a member of the BetaTheta Pi fraternity, an organization that hestill holds near and dear to his heart.

Tod graduated from UCLA with a BA in Ge-ography in 1971, and during his senior yearbegan taking Real Estate classes at SantaMonica City College. He received his realestate license in 1972 and began pursuinghis future in that business with a couplejobs with major companies where helearned the basics of the apartment busi-ness: building costs, financing, locationsand rent-to-value ratios.

Spieker Companies was launched in 1981when Tod bought a 34-unit rental propertyin Campbell, California, and this venturehas experienced phenomenal success.Today the Palo Alto based, wholly owned

and privately held companyis an investment and prop-erty management enginethat has an inventory ofmore than 4,000 rentalunits and over 200 employees.

But, swimming continuedto be a part of Tod’s life.In 1977 he discovered Mas-ters Swimming in a bigway. He burned his waythrough the FINA Mastersworld record books forthe next quarter of a centuryand swam his way intothe International MastersSwimming Hall of Fame in2005. He would also benamed to the International

Swimming Hall of Fame in 2016.

Although he has since stopped competing,he still swims before heading to the office.He attributes his years in swimming forproviding him the lessons and tools thathave made him successful in real estate,and as a father, husband and grandfather.

Swimming life has also bestowed him withthe desire to give back. Over the years heactively and generously supported a varietyof aquatic projects and organizations, withSwim With Mike and the Tod and CatherineSpieker Pavilion at the USC UytengsuAquatics Center being fortunate recipientsof his generosity.

Tod Spieker shows the way

Tod Spieker

An Aquatics FestivalJoin us for our extended pool party

We hope to see you on April 6th when we will be celebrating our mission with a newlook – an Aquatics Festival that will recognize and honor our physicallychallenged recipients who have overcome their tragedies and are pursuing their

full potential. Our day will include the following activities and you will want to be part of it!

In addition to these activities, SWM Board Member Loretta Joseph and her crew will be filminga documentary leading up to our 40th Anniversary in 2020.

“I have yet to find a more meaningful charity than Swim With Mike. It truly helps enhance so many

peoples’ lives when they need it most.”

- Gates Open at 8am

- Free Parking

- Masters Workout

- Swim Clinics

- Pancake Breakfast for Masters Workout and Swim Clinics participants

- Dive Show

- Biggest Splash Contest

- BBQ

- Trojan Marching Band

- USC Song Girls

- USC Dance Force

- USC Football Player/Song Girl Relay

- Photos with Traveler

- General Store

- Silent Auction

- Raffle

- Massage Tent

- USC Yell Leader Alums’ 25th Anniversary Lap Challenge to break last year’s 7,936 lap record

- Wheelchair Basketball Tournament

Also on the USC campus April 6:

- Spring Football Showcase on Cromwell Field 10am

- USC Tennis vs Utah 12pm

- USC Baseball vs ASU 2pm (Kids Day)

- USC Volleyball vs UCLA 7pm

- Please refer to our Swim With Mikeschedule at swimwithmike.org

10 11

We are kicking off our 39th annual Fundraising Campaign to support physically challenged athletesand want you to be part of the fun as a Campaign Director.

As a Campaign Director, you will become our grassroots representative, reaching out to your onlinefriends, schoolmates, neighbors, family and prospective sponsors to support your own fundraisingcampaign on behalf of our outstanding scholarship recipients.

Please visit the Swim With Mike website at swimwithmike.org to register – and while you are there,take a look at some of the other campaigns, such as the ones shown here, that are underway byother Campaign Directors. How about helping recruit another Campaign Director?Please let us know who we can contact by emailing us at swimwithmike@gmail.com.

The Centofante Anniversary Club - $3,900Al Centofante started this funding at the 10th Anniversary of Swim With Mike to honor each anniversarywith a $100 gift for every year the Fund has been in existence. In this, our 39th year, the donation levelis $3900, and is in keeping with Al’s tradition. The Centofante Family Foundation matches all newincreases and Club member gifts.

The Tod Spieker Masters ChallengeTod Spieker will match all monies raised from swimmers participating in the Masters Challenge.

Sponsor a Lane at Our Satellite Events - $1,500Sponsor a Lane at our USC Swim With Mike USC event and all SWM Satellite events.

Lane Sponsor - $1,000Sponsor a Lane at the 39th Swim With Mike USC event. Donations are recognized at the pool on theday of the event and in our Yearbook.

Swim With Mike 5th Annual Wheelchair Basketball Team Sponsor - $1,000Be a Team Sponsor at our newly expanded Swim With Mike event.

The Miller Challenge - $390The G. Willard Miller Foundation has contributed over $500,000 to SWM. Through the generosity ofStephen Miller and Board member Michael Thomas, the Foundation matches all $380 contributions; $10 for each year since our inception.

ENDOWMENTSAn endowment may be created with a minimum $100,000 gift. The principal remains intact while theinterest funds generated are distributed to the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund. TheSWM Endowment Fund currently has more than $3.5 million; our goal is to reach $5-10 million tosupport our mission in perpetuity.

Have you made a difference? Here are some ways!There are many ways to donate to our Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund. Here are someof the ways you can help us change the lives of our outstanding scholarship recipients and their futureprospects of success.

The Campaign DirectorsRaising Funds and Awareness for Swim With Mike

TYLER VITIELLO’S GOATYOGA IN NEW JERSEY

Campaign Director and SWMScholarship recipient Tyler

Vitiello (MA Industrial/Organi-zational Psychology, MontclairState University 2019) produceda Goat Yoga event to raise fundsto benefit SWM. The event wasOctober 27th – with a Halloweentheme, of course – at the localhigh school.

Tyler and his mom, Christine,planned two successful sessionsof yoga instruction with goatsdoing their part by encouragingparticipants throughout the activity. What a wonderfully fun and innovative way to bring SWM to New Jersey!

Many thanks to the Vitiellos forthis SWM Campaign.

ANDREW OUELLETTE’S 2ndANNUAL VINEYARD VINESEVENT

Swim With Mike ScholarshipRecipient Andrew Ouellette(University of Colorado, Boulder,Marketing 2021) held his 2ndAnnual Campaign Event at Denver’s Vineyard Vines. Thestore graciously contributed20% of all merchandise sales to Swim With Mike.

Thanks to Andrew for anothersuccessful effort in making animportant Swim With Mikewave of support in Denverand for “giving back.”

LA JOLLA VILLAGE “SIP ANDSHOP” FUNDRAISER

Our La Jolla SWM Boardmembers Betsy Thomas and

Nancy Phillips know when tomake a SWM statement in theirtown. J. Laughlin’s Novemberopening in La Jolla Village gaveBetsy and Nancy the opportunityto introduce the community toboth SWM and the fabulousnew store with their “Sip andShop” event. Wine and appetizerswere abundant, as was theshopping, and J. Laughlin contributed a percentage ofsales to SWM at this November27 event.

And there is more good news –Betsy and Nancy have secured J. Laughlin for another “Sip andShop” event this Spring, whichwill be in conjunction with theSWM annual event at UCSD.

Thanks, Ladies!

Be a Swim With Mike CampaignDirector yourself! Just organizean event in your own communityand help create awareness – whilehaving lots of fun – and helpingto change the lives of physicallychallenged athletes.

Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund University of Southern California • Heritage Hall 203B • Los Angeles, CA 90089-0602

Saturday, April 6 - 39th annual Swim With Mike, USC Uytengsu Aquatics Center

Friday/Saturday, April 5 & 6, 2019 - SWM Wheelchair Basketball Tournament

presented by UBS in the Lyon Center at USC

Also in 2019:

Swim With Mike Rose Bowl Aquatics Center – March 29 - April 5 / 9th annual

Swim With Mike University of California San Diego - April 27 / 9th annual

Swim With Mike Hawaii - September 2 / 15th Annual (in conjunction with the

50th annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim)

Please check out our website at www.swimwithmike.org to learn more about our fundraising activities, or to join our team as a Campaign Director!

Over $22million raised in scholarship support since 1981

Scholarship dollars awarded for 2018-19: $ 961,949

2018-19 Scholarship Recipients: 50 (39 universities nationwide)

Total number of Swim With Mike scholarship recipients: 231

Total sports represented: 60

Total universities represented: 122

We could not have accomplished this without your help. Thank you!

COMING UP

Design: M

ike Navarro /

J.R. Navarro Inc.

Swim With Mike

by theNUMBERS

Spring 2019Newsletter

Creating aNew Life

AfterTragedy

How Swim

With Mike is helping

Alumni Spotlight

Claire SnowAward winner

SC Swimmer returns to GradSchool