Brady Winans incurred a multitude of serious injuries in a boating accident in December 2021, but he's back to competing again with a lot of help from the people around him.
August 09, 2023
By Alan McGuckin It’s no small miracle Brady Winans is standing , and not confined to a wheelchair, as seen in the photo with members of his Hunt Regional Medical Center physical therapy support team in his hometown of Greenville, Texas.
Winans, a longtime fishing industry sales rep for brands like such as, Costa, 6th Sense and Falcon Rods, broke more bones than Humpty Dumpty following a horrific fog-related crash, when his longtime fishing partner’s bass boat hit the rip-rap dam on Cedar Creek Reservoir two weeks before Christmas on a trip 19 months ago.
Ejected from the boat at 40 mph, Winans was tossed on to the jagged rocks, fracturing several portions of his body, including his back. He was then transported by helicopter from the top of the dam they’d planned to throw an Alabama Rig on just a few minutes earlier.
“I broke a lot of big stuff, including my back, collar bone, ribs, femur, and my ankle was basically a bag of broken pieces,” says the 48-year-old father of two young boys.
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“So, yeah, the people you see in the photo with me, along with the incredible staff at UT-Tyler, where I was hospitalized for three months, are like family. They’re the crew that had to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” said the always comical Winans.
Word of his accident spread quickly to fellow anglers as well as his fishing industry family, and the display of generosity that precipitated still brings him to tears.
“For starters, my longtime boss (and fellow tournament angler) Russell Cecil, who is a great salesman but an even better person, assured me that no matter how long it took me to recover, I’d always have a job with Sunbelt Sales, and that if I needed to work from home instead of visiting our dealers for a while, that was fine, too,” says Winans.
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To further assure financial support, anglers and the fishing industry rallied big-time. A GoFundMe account raised $45,000, top pros raffled off fishing trips for his benefit and fishing companies donated thousands of dollars in merchandise to a silent auction. Plus, 6th Sense lure company sold special edition “Build Back Brady” T-shirts that raised another $9,000, and 85 teams showed up to raise even more money at a fund-raising tournament on Lake Tawakoni.
“When you see all that ... when people ranging from Bassmaster Classic Champions to people you’ve never met are contributing their time and money to help heal you, there’s just no way I could give up physically or mentally,” he says.
But for more than himself or anybody else, Brady Winans has battled for his wife, Val and their two boys. “I’m so blessed to have a sweet wife who’s a nurse, and I’ll tell you, a huge percentage of my will and motivation comes from her because I don’t want to let her down.”
Winans hasn’t let anybody down. In fact, he’s inspired thousands, largely by frequently posting his challenges and progress on social media. Toyota Bonus Bucks
The new Tundra CrewMax Limited he purchased is equipped with hand-control brake and accelerator devices because he’s still working to regain full use of his legs, ankles and feet. And while he does utilize a wheelchair frequently, he’s extremely self-motivated to use his Loftstrand crutches as much as possible, with the ultimate goal of someday needing either.
Nobody’s betting against him – not his physical therapy team – not his friends nor fellow anglers. And certainly not the head coach and quarterback of his support team, Val, the one he fights hardest for, along with their two young sons, in the on-going effort to Build Back Brady.
