Triumph Over Adversity: Bryan Biagioli Is Thankful for Second Chances
Inspired Golf: Like Father, Like Son
By Janina Parrott Jacobs and Tom Lang
The Biagioli household has a lot to celebrate around the game of golf.
Bryan (dad) and McCoy (son) both excel in the game for very different reasons.
Bryan feels the joy of simply being able to play the game after a tragic car accident altered his life. McCoy shines in the game at the highest amateur level in Michigan.
McCoy heads into the 2025 competition season as defending champ of the Golf Association of Michigan’s (GAM) top tournaments – the Michigan Amateur and the GAM Championship. Being only the 11th person in GAM’s century-plus history to win both state majors in the same season led to being named the 2024 Player of the Year.
Many years before, life was going extremely well for Bryan Biagioli. He had just moved to Michigan from Texas, was newly married, and had landed a great job at Detroit-based Rock Financial.
“I was on cloud nine… and in the blink of an eye, I rolled my truck and I’m on a helicopter to the hospital to save my life,” he said. “The incredible flight crew and doctors kept me alive and after several days and surgeries we decided to amputate my leg due to the severity of the break and infection.”
Amputations are life-changing for anyone, but as an athlete, they’re especially shocking. For Biagioli, who did return to work at Dan Gilbert’s company for 23 years but is now Executive Director of the Michigan Amputee Golfers as well as an Orthotics and Prosthetics Account Manager with Wright & Filippis, the injury only temporarily stalled him.
He grew up playing all sorts of sports, including baseball at Sam Houston State University.
“The thought of not being able to play sports or possibly walk again was devastating,” Biagioli. “Being an athlete and growing up in Texas allowed me to overcome and adapt. My positive mindset and determination took over.”
The senior Biagioli looks back 26 years later and is thankful for his recovery, success, and career, crediting a higher power: “God works in mysterious ways. He gave me a second chance and that motivated me to work harder and smarter. I could’ve been gone… every day truly is a gift. I hunt, fish, work out, ride bikes, work in the yard and at our property up north, coach my kids’ sports, and play golf.”
After the accident, Biagioli eventually dedicated his efforts toward golf and has never played better. This led to winning the Michigan Adaptive Golf Championship three times, first in 2006, then in 2021 and 2023. The event, created in 1955, is the oldest regional adaptive tournament in the U.S.
There’s increased focus in the golf world on adaptive golf, especially toward veterans and military with lingering injuries and PTSD stemming from service to our country. Biagioli never served in the U.S. military, but people often assume that. In Florida, an anonymous individual saw his leg and covered the family’s dinner, a frequent ‘thank-you’ by a well-meaning public.
“It was a generous gesture and opened my eyes, to pay it forward,” Biagioli said. “I volunteer locally with Adaptive Golf Clinics, which spreads awareness and gets participants off the couch and on the course. Golf is addicting so the more we expose people to it the better off they will be.”
McCoy certainly seems to have embraced his father’s work ethic and positivity. Like Dad, he excelled at multiple sports but eventually chose golf, participating in GAM junior competitions. As a freshman golf team member in the fall of 2023 at Ferris State University, he played in every event. He was a solid player at Lakeland High in White Lake but didn’t make huge waves on that level. McCoy finished 7th in the Division 1 regionals, before putting together two solid rounds to place T5 at the 2023 MHSAA State Finals his senior year.
He saw huge improvements to his game his freshman season at Ferris, which led to winning the Michigan Amateur and the GAM Championship right afterward.
“I set little goals, then once I’ve accomplished them, I find ways to get to bigger goals like Player of the Year,” McCoy said. “Starting the college season (in fall 2023 as a freshman) I could tell my game was improving, but consistency was something I was always looking for. I would shoot 68 then 78, but through the (school) year I started putting good rounds together.
“I had never made match play, and I didn’t know what to expect but I always knew I could win matches,” he said. “My dad told me before I left that week for the tournament to bring home that (Staghorn Trophy). I thought it was possible. I knew I could win. I didn’t play that great in stroke play, but I made it to match play and won a match that wasn’t pretty. But I built on it, gave myself chances and pulled off big shots.”
McCoy, now nearing the end of his sophomore season at Ferris, said he plans to defend both major titles in 2025, and wants to build on his fantastic summer of 2024. He can look to his dad’s fight over the odds as inspiration.
Bryan Biagioli wants those who are having a hard time to know that the camaraderie of the adaptive community is like no other.
“You are not alone. I’ve met some incredible people who have dealt with real adversity and tragedy and come out stronger. For me, preparing for a day of golf is nothing out of the ordinary: pop the leg on - it’s like slipping on a shoe - hit the range, and off to the tee. As the old saying goes, no matter how bad you think you have it, someone else out there is dealing with something worse.”
Note: For more information about the Michigan Amputee Golf Association, a registered 501(c)(3), visit: www.maga.golf or call (586) 201-5764.
