Lucky Meisenheimer (born 1957) is an American physician, athlete, author, and actor. He is best known for his novel, The Immune,[1] his Guinness world record collection of yo-yos,[2] and his guides, Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos[3] and The Zombie Cause Dictionary.
A founding board member of the American Yo-Yo Association, he continues to serve as chairman of the world records committee. Meisenheimer is best known for his book Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos and his Guinness World Record for the largest yo-yo collection. A copy of Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos is part of the Smithsonian Institution collection. He also created the parody poster "Lucky's Periodic Table of Yo-Yos" and Mr. Bandalore, a statue made of 603 different yo-yos.[8][9] His yo-yo collection also features the world's largest wooden yo-yo, the Shakamak Yo-Yo, which is 6 feet tall and weighs 820 pounds.[10]
An avid open water swimmer and an All-American and world record holder in masters swimming, he has won several open water competitions over the years including the Swimming Hall of Fame Gault Ocean Mile swim, the 12.5-mile Around Key West Swim where he held the fin swimming record, and multiple Triathlon Relay National Championships. He is best known for hosting a daily 1 kilometer open water swim at his home (named Aquatica) since 1989. Dubbed Lucky's Lake Swim, swimmers receive a patch and sign the back wall of his home on completion of the swim.[11][12][13][14]
A life member of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), he is a certified level 5 masters coach and was the head coach of Team Orlando Masters at the YMCA Aquatic Center from 1989 until 2000.[15] He was the president of the Masters Aquatics Coaches Association from 1994–95 and served on the ASCA Certification committee. He is the co-author of "The Masters School" with Judy Bonning and Micheal Collins. In 1994, he started and continues to coach the Special Olympics swimming program (The Man O' War Swim Team) at the YMCA Aquatic Center.[citation needed]
A member of the Screen Actors Guild, he has appeared in movies and on television. He made his directorial debut and also wrote the featurette film National Lampoon presents "RoboDoc Dissected the Making of the Movie RoboDoc," a parody of behind the scenes making of movie films.[16]
