Hall of Fame
John Meisenheimer ’75 -‘79 swam four seasons for coach Dan Lichty’s Electrifying Eels where he was a multiple event Kentucky Intercollegiate Conference champion and a Midwest Independent Conference record holder. He competed in all of the freestyle events for EKU and was a school record holder in the 50 and 200 free as well as the 400-medley relay and 400 and 800 free relays. Additionally, he won the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s rough water mile-swim representing Eastern in 1977. He was a recipient of EKU’s swim team’s 110 per cent award and EKU Scholar Athlete award all four years, and was the second athlete in Eastern’s history to receive the NCCA scholar-athlete postgraduate scholarship award. He was the first athlete from EKU’s Model Lab School to compete four years in a varsity sport at Eastern. At Model he held school records in all the freestyle and butterfly events. While a student at EKU, he served as the President of the E Club (lettermen’s club) and Caduceus Club and was a member of several academic honor societies. He is best remembered for his swimming stunt, which garnered national attention, when he swam ½ mile with his foot in his mouth. The feat landed him in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Following his graduation with a bachelor's degree in pre-medicine, he earned his medical degree at University of Kentucky. He practices Dermatology and Mohs surgery in Orlando, FL where he is the Chief of Dermatology at Orlando Regional Health System. He continues to swim and coach and has set numerous national and world masters records. Thousands have participated in his internationally recognized daily lake swim “Lucky’s Lake Swim” hosted at his home since 1989. A lifetime member of the American Swimming Coaches Association he is a certified level 5 swim coach and has served as the president of the Masters Aquatics Coaches association. He has been involved in numerous civic organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors of Orlando’s YMCA Aquatic Center since 1992 and as head coach of the Special Olympics swim team since 1993. He has authored two books “Lucky’s Collector’s Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos”, which is in the Smithsonian Institution, and his critically acclaimed novel “The Immune”. Additionally, he holds the Guinness World’s Record for the largest Yo-Yo collection. He and his wife, Jacquie, have three sons, John VII, Jake and Maximus.
