Jack Damioli. Contributed photo.
Editor’s note: This story is the last of a series on the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Although Jack Damioli is an executive in the luxury resort industry, he has never been afraid to start at the bottom.
As a 10-year-old, Damioli was a caddie at Yankee Run Golf Course.
“That was a big bag of clubs for a 10-year-old,” said Damioli’s sister, Debbie Bika, who accepted his induction on his behalf.
“Then he worked on shagging golf balls with Bill McMullin and Ben McMullin, and finally worked maintenance until he graduated college. Jack credits Bill, Ben and Gary McMullin for encouraging not only him but a lot of the youth that went through Yankee Run Golf Course, for helping him become the man he is today. He said that Yankee Run was a great place to work, play, grow and learn.”
It is also where Damioli gained his “passion for golf,” Bika said.
Damioli played golf at Brookfield High School, and was captain his senior year, graduating in 1977. He golfed at Youngstown State University, until he transferred to Ohio University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in recreational management, and a master’s degree in sports administration.
He began his professional career in 1983 at the Greenbriar, a resort in White Sulfur Springs, W.Va. He started in the bag room and “worked every department until achieving general manager,” Bika said.
Damioli moved onto the Gasparilla Inn and Club in Boca Grande, Fla., in 2006. “He led the resort in the rebirth of its historical property as president and CEO,” Bika said.
Debbie Bika
In 2014, Damioli became vice president of the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., moving up to became president and CEO in 2015, responsible for the Broadmoor’s “many properties,” she said.
Although he works in the luxury industry, Damioli is aware that not everyone has it so good.
“The Colorado Springs area, along with many areas in our country, are seeing an increase in homeless, and food insecurity has become a huge problem,” Bika said. “Jack has encouraged others in the Colorado Springs hospitality community to partner with the Broadmoor in donating surplus food. The Broadmoor routinely prepares 5 percent excess of what is needed in their 20 restaurants on property. This food is never served. It never leaves the kitchen. In the past, it was just waste. Now the food is donated to the (Colorado Springs Rescue Mission). In 2019 alone, they donated 10,000 pounds of food.”
Bika, a retired Badger Schools teacher, said many of the traits that have made her brother a successful, compassionate person derive from their parents.
“Our parents, John and Mildred Damioli, instilled the value of education, honesty and a strong work ethic,” she said. “Success is not an accident. There are many factors and influences that help make successful people. My parents would have been very proud of Jack.”
