DClog

The life of Daniel Gene Coy has been interesting so far, full of jazz gigs and bike races. Dan Coy has accomplished much in his life that most people could only dream about. He is a professional musician, champion cyclist, accomplished artist, elite level cycling coach, and many other things. He is a really interesting person.

Daniel Gene Coy was born on December 3, 1953 in Columbus, Ohio to Allan and Judy Coy. He has an older brother named Doug, three younger brothers named Dave, Dale, and Dean, and a younger sister named Lisa. He lived in Ohio for thirteen years before moving to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and then Georgia. Since moving to Georgia as a teenager, he has not moved out of the Atlanta area. He married Beverly Buster in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 1979, and they have two daughters. The older is Ruth, and the younger is Rachel.

Dan Coy began playing guitar in 1964. In 1971, he began playing jazz. From that time, he remembers, “One day, I was sitting on my porch playing guitar. A neighbor of mine who played the bass guitar saw me. He came over and literally drew out the pentatonic scale in the dirt with a stick.” This marked a point in his life when he focused on jazz and had little use for popular music.

A few years later, Dan Coy went to the Sinai Peninsula to play a concert for the military there. He closed the concert with a Jimi Hendrix version of the “Star Spangled Banner.” “On the last note it began to rain,” Dan Coy says, “and it, like, never rains over there. The soldiers all thought it was a blessing from God. They got really excited and started to throw stuff up onto the stage.” This event is the most memorable in his music career so far. In 1999, after playing guitar for nearly thirty years, Dan Coy’s band, the Dan Coy Trio made a record called Nothing but the Truth. Information about this group can be found on one of the many websites he maintains on the Internet (http://dancoy.com/).

In 1989, Dan Coy pulled an old bicycle of his out of the garage. From that day forward, a new part of his life began. He began racing not long after getting out the bike. He has won many races, including the 1999 Masters National race, and has had some neck-and-neck second place finishes. Dan Coy prefers road cycling to other types because it “requires more strategy.” Recently, he has taken up cyclocross racing in addition to his road racing and mountain biking. Cyclocross racing involves challenging changes of surfaces and forced dismounts of the bicycle that has to be carried over barriers.

Between jazz gigs and bike races, Dan Coy has little time for other activities, but somehow he does do many other activities. He has his own website (http://dancoy.com/) and web log (http://dancoy.com/blog). He also creates websites for other people (http://w3-creator.com/). He enjoys exploring the great outdoors, drawing, and painting, too.

Over the past few years, Dan Coy has faced many events in his family. On January 2, 2000 his mother passed away. In 2003, his daughter Ruth graduated from the University of Georgia, and in 2004 his other daughter Rachel started her freshman year at the University of Georgia. Dan Coy says, “In a thousand years, it won’t matter who played what on what [on guitar], as long as your genetic line is still going.”