ACO IN THE MEDIA

HAMLET — Very few people can say they have won a world championship; nonetheless, an accomplished 19-year-old Jamie Graham arrived back in his hometown of Hamlet Monday afternoon after claiming the World Championship of Cornhole this past weekend.

The championship tournament, hosted by the governing body of cornhole, the American Cornhole Organization (ACO), was played in Owensboro, KY from July 25-29.

Graham defeated Ryan Windsor in the ACO World Singles Championship Winners Bracket Final to claim the title of World Singles Champion at the World Singles Season XII event.

At the age of 16, Jamie Graham played his first game of cornhole with his cousins at a family reunion. He immediately fell in love with the game and began playing on a regular basis. He began competing in the same year as he started and continued on to win his first tournament in Foley, AL at age 17, then on to win a major in Kenansville, NC.

At the age of 18, Jamie won another tournament in West Virginia, then another in his return to Kenansville. He went on to win the State Championship in June 2017, which led him to win the ACO World Championship of Cornhole this past weekend.

Jamie gave his brother, Steven Graham, a special thanks for being an inspiration to him as well as encouraging him to play cornhole. He said Steven was there for all his games.

Jamie also mentioned a supportive cornhole group called #BIG4 which consists of Trevor Brooks, Tyler Poythress, Jay Corley, and himself. He said, “They have been there from the beginning, and they are much more than just a group to me.”

He continued, “It feels good to win, and all the dedication finally paid off.”

Graham will continue to play with the American Cornhole Organization in future events. For more information about the American Cornhole Organization, visit americancornhole.com.

Wilson native named ACO Player of the Year but ties for 7th at ACO’s World Singles Championship

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Tyler Poythress will have to wait at least another year to lay claim to the coveted American Cornhole Organization “King of Cornhole” title.

The Fike High graduate, coming off Player of the Year accolades in the ACO regular season, took the No. 1 overall seed into Saturday’s ACO double-elimination World Singles Championship at Owensboro Convention Center.

But after winning his first four matches to reach the quarterfinals of the winner’s bracket, Poythress stumbled and won one losers bracket encounter before running into a familiar foe in No. 18 seed Caleb Avery — one half of the brotherly tandem that eliminated Poythress and teammate Jay Corley in Friday’s ACO World Doubles Championship en route to a third-place finish.

Poythress fell behind early against Avery and never led, falling 21-9 to end his tournament and tie his best-ever singles finish of seventh in three trips to the event.

In defending his No. 1 seed in the first half of Saturday play, Poythress defeated No. 128 Noel True of Kentucky, No. 65 Sean Short of Ohio, No. 97 Robert Morris Jr. of North Carolina and upstart No. 112 seed Trellis Cisco of West Virginia in the opening four matches. Poythress faltered against No. 25 seed Jordan Langworthy of Kentucky and was sent to the losers bracket, where he knocked out another Kentucky player in No. 14 seed Phillip Haydon.

However, with fellow Tar Heel Avery in wait, Poythress could not find the big inning against Avery’s clutch pitching. Poythress had an opportunity to get at least five points back at one juncture, but on his final throw of the inning, Avery hit an “air mail” shot that knocked two of his own bags in the hole and foiled any built-up momentum.

North Carolina’s Jamie Graham, as the No. 94 seed, defeated No. 5 Ryan Windsor of Illinois in two games to win the King of Cornhole crown for Season XII and finished the tournament without a loss. It’s the first King of Cornhole win for a North Carolina player in the event’s history.

Matt Guy, owner of seven of the ACO’s 12 World Singles championships and the No. 2 seed behind Poythress, was halted in the loser’s bracket final by Windsor.

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ7) Whatever you call this bean-bag tossing game — cornhole or bags — it’s moved beyond it’s humble start at backyard barbeques and tailgating parties.

A tournament group meets at Soaring Ridge Wednesdays, and the guy at the mic is Toby Smith, currently one of the country’s top-ranked players.

“I’ve seen a lot of cities that I would never have seen otherwise just to throw a beanbag,” Smith.

Cornhole’s got a competition component, with $30k on the line at the American Cornhole Organization’s World Championship. Smith heads to the main event Thursday with partner Steve Wimmer, up against hundreds of other teams.

“[I’m] hoping to win the whole thing,” Smith said. “We’re going in as the number six seed, so why not? Our chances are as good as anybody’s.”

Wimmer acknowledges that the sport, for which he’s collected twenty sets of throwing bags, is a hot topic with his wife, but he jokes about making it more than a hobby.

“We’re looking for sponsors,” Wimmer said. “Will take any sponsorship… feminine products, car rentals, anything. We’ll wear pink shirts, yellow, zebra stripes, whatever. We’re waiting for offers.”

Smith said friends and family were largely supportive of their passion project, with a little hesitation at the beginning.

“We got a couple funny looks when we said we wanted to take it on the road, but it’s working out,” Smith said.

Smith says he’d like to come back to the Wednesday night group with a trophy, and he knows his fellow players will be following their progress.

For more information, visit the Star City Cornhole Facebook page.

If you’ve been to a bar, tailgate or big outdoor event lately, you may have seen people throwing beanbags at a slanted wooden board with a hole in it.

Even if you didn’t necessarily recognize it, this is cornhole, a game also known by the alternative names of bags, beanbag toss or even baggo. Cornhole, as it is officially called by most organizations, is rising in popularity. And some people are taking this traditional backyard pastime pretty seriously; a growing league of semi-professionals now tours the nation to play every weekend.

The California State Fair is gearing up to host its second annual cornhole championship on Saturday on the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand. Hosting two divisions – a serious one and a social one – the event currently has nine registered teams. The championship requires a $50 registration fee per team, and the winners will receive a still undisclosed amount of prize money.

The competition is held through the California Cornhole Association (CCA), which is working to promote the sport in the western region of the U.S.

Frank Geers, CEO of the national American Cornhole Organization, said the sport has broad appeal. “(We’ve got) 12-year-old girls, and we’ve got 92-year-old men pitching a bag,” he said.

Most people get into the game after seeing it played at social events, or after playing it with friends. One player at the midtown Sacramento watering hole Der Biergarten recalls playing it with his family on camping trips. A couple years later, when visiting friends at Chico State University, he found himself playing “baggo” again in their front yards and on the streets of their neighborhood. For him, the game has always been a fun way to do something while socializing.

Jill Huckels, a student at Stanford University, described her experience of playing cornhole at bars as “refreshing,” saying that “it’s nice to be able to go out to a bar and experience alternatives to just sitting at the bar counter or dancing.” She first saw cornhole at school events, but has done most of her playing in bars around Nashville.

Cornhole is played with two platforms, two sets of four bags – which are either beanbags or bags filled with dried corn kernels – and two teams made up of either one or two players. The teams take turns “pitching” the bags from an area called the “pitcher’s box.” The competitor cannot pass the line of the pitcher’s box when throwing. All four bags have to be thrown in a row before the next player can begin. Once the players (whether it be two or four) have thrown their bags, they will move over to throw from the other side. All contestants will be pitching from the same side.

There are many variations, but the most basic rules state that a team much reach or surpass 21 points to win. A bag in the hole is worth three and a bag on the wooden board is worth one point.

The origins of cornhole aren’t clear. One story attribute’s the game’s invention to Heyliger de Windt, a businessman from Winnetka, Ill., who patented a game named “Parlot Quoits,” which resembles cornhole. Another story tells of a German man who invented cornhole as a safer amusement for a group of young boys, who had been tossing rocks in holes, rather than beanbags. Several others give credit to Native American tribes who used dried beans to fill up their bags. Whatever its origins, the game has evolved and groups such as the ACA and the ACO have created rulebooks, standard measurements and serious tournaments.

These culminate in the ACO World Series, a tournament that earns victors $30,000. The ACO is hosting World Series XII from July 25 to 29 in Owensboro, Ky. Geers said that about a dozen players from California will be competing in the event.

The presence of serious tournaments aside, most people play cornhole for fun – often with a beer in the other hand.

Urban Sports Los Angeles (USLA) is a good example of this. When Jeff Ahn proposed adding cornhole to its list of recreational sport leagues to co-founder Sae Lee six years ago, Lee was hesitant. Californians had not yet given the sport much of a try, and Lee feared that they would not sign up.

Much to Lee’s surprise, 30 people signed up for the league the first year, motivated by the fact that cornhole was mostly played in bars, meaning food and drinks are also involved.

Last season, the club’s fifth, saw the highest numbers so far, allowing USLA to host a cornhole tournament for 500 people (which included non-members) at an L.A. Live event in Grand Central Market.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) — The best players in the world go head to head in the World Championships for Cornhole in Knoxville. An unlikely contestant from Maryland gave everyone else a run for their money.

“I just throw my game, just like anybody else would,” said Dayton Webber, an 18-year-old young man competing in the Cornhole World Championships.

Webber walked through the doors and picked up a bean bag, proving one thing to the world.

“I can do it all,” said Webber.

Just ten months after birth, a rare bacterial disease changed Webber’s world. He had one choice — a traumatic surgery where they had to amputate part of his arms and both legs.

He didn’t let that stop him from growing up like everyone else.

“I write,” said Webber. “My teachers always told me I had the best handwriting in the class. I’m actually really good at writing.”

That also didn’t stop him from playing the sport he loved, cornhole.

“I let my bags do the talking,” said Webber.

ESPN.com Staff

Ron Heibert arrives early to get some practice in before he tosses in the American Cornhole Organization’s World Championships of Cornhole X. To play cornhole, two teams or players face off by tossing four beanbags per round at a board with a six-inch hole. Typically, the first team or player to score 21 points is declared the winner.

Bags and bags … and bags.

From all directions and every angle, you can’t avoid the bags at the World Championships. One set of eight World X certified pro bags can run you $75, and must be picked up in Knoxville on Saturday.

The game is mostly played for fun, but at the ACO World Championships, it’s played for pride, passion and ultimately to win one of these sweet trophies

A few minutes before 9 a.m. Saturday, the thuds of bags landing on cornhole boards echoed through the lower-level exhibition hall of the Knoxville Convention Center.

Game time was just a few moments away, as participants little known outside their sport prepared for the final day of the World Championships of Cornhole X.

On the south end of the hall, people with names and faces much more familiar to sports fans around the country prepared for a broadcast of SportsCenter on ESPN2.

Anchors Matt Barrie and Sara Walsh were doing some last-minute prep work, while college football analyst and former Brigham Young and NFL player Trevor Matich prepared to be on the set. Louisiana Tech women’s basketball coach Tyler Summitt, the son of former Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt, meanwhile, waited patiently with his father, R.B. Summitt, and a friend to make a guest appearance.Showtime was just a few moments away.

Although tailgating fans at Tennessee football games have been known to play cornhole outside Neyland Stadium while watching ESPN, Saturday marked the first time the two sports have collided.

As part of the network’s “On The Road” series, which included a stop at the Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York last weekend, the station did a three-hour broadcast from the Convention Center.

By all reports, Saturday’s show was a hit.

“This is easily the most unique thing I’ve ever been live from,” said EPSN anchor Barrie with a smile after the broadcast was finished at noon. “I was entertained for two straight days.”

ESPN coordinating producer Michael Epstein, who worked with the anchors and the crew on the ESPN bus outside the building, agreed.

“The people have been so great to us, and we just had an absolute blast being here,” he said.
The cornhole tournament officials, in turn, said they loved having ESPN on hand.

“It’s been absolutely amazing,” said Eric Hinerman, the director of certified officials for the organization overseeing the tournament. “It’s a huge step for us having SportsCenter come.”

Besides reporting on the sports headlines and doing features on the tournament, the ESPN anchors also interviewed various athletes with Tennessee connections, including former Vol and NFL punters Dustin and Britton Colquitt, and former Tennessee and NFL player Jabari Greer.

For Greer, appearing on ESPN is a fun opportunity for any player.

“First, you want to be on SportsCenter for your highlights, and secondly, you want to be on there giving commentary,” he said. “To get this opportunity is awesome.”

He also admitted to being impressed with the skills of the cornhole participants after watching them and doing a few tosses as part of the broadcast.

“I realize I’m not the best athlete in the building,” he said with a laugh.

Among those competing in the tournament, which ended Saturday night with the various world championships, was Shane Harrelson. Although he did not advance out of pool play, he said he loved being there and seeing all the attention the sport received.

“It’s been an experience,” said the Statesville, N.C., resident, who started playing the fast-growing sport with a friend who had some cornhole boards. “I’m glad to see the coverage of this sport is actually taking off now. There have been a lot of guys who have put a lot of time and effort into getting it where it is now.”

With so many Tennessee-related guests, the talk on the ESPN set was also about Tennessee football. Matich said off the air that through his observance of the job Vols coach Butch Jones is doing and through conversations with his nephew, UT student River Matich, he knows Vol fans are excited about the upcoming season.

“It’s more than excitement,” he joked. “It’s insane.”

I’d been to Turfway Park before. It’s pretty much across the street from the Cincinnati airport, which is actually in northern Kentucky. After a Kentucky Derby 12 years ago, I was supposed to drive there from Louisville to catch a 7 a.m. flight to be home for my producer friend Gus Ramsey’s son’s birthday.

Somehow I missed my alarm and awoke in Louisville about the same time I was scheduled to arrive home for the party. As if PJ Ramsey would even remember I had attended. Instead, after missing the event, I wrote him a note that I hope Gus kept for him.

It went: “Dear PJ, your Uncle Kenny somehow missed your 2-year-old birthday party, but there’s always that one uncle who teaches his nephews about gambling, and I’m your guy. Sure, I missed your party. I hope the keg of apple juice was chilled and the bouncy house was inflated. But after missing my scheduled flight, I also missed the next five flights. The day after the Derby is a big travel day in Kentucky. Don’t be stupid. No way am I making those flights. It was like John Candy was right there telling me this. So I finally found a flight home at about 9 p.m., which allowed me to spend some quality time across the street at Turfway Park Racecourse. Hollywood Park was running out West, and my trifecta box came home. By not going to your stupid party, I won something like $1,500. That money will be long gone by the time you learn how to read, but I hope by the time you’re around 14 or so you’ll appreciate the fact 2-year-old birthdays are long forgotten, but $1,500 trifecta hits are forever. Let’s go to the track one day. Yours, Uncle Kenny.”

Too bad PJ wasn’t around for this visit to Turfway Park. We hit another trifecta. Not that we didn’t do diligent work. I made that play after competing one night for a couple of hours in the long-toss event at the World Championships of Cornhole. For about three hours, I owned the world record at 77 feet. But there was no way I was walking away with the title. Not with a guy from Cincinnati named Ricky Mayes throwing his arm off. He wouldn’t quit ’til he owned the top mark. And he did: 95 feet.

But it was 27 feet where the tournament field competed for king of cornhole.

You know cornhole. It’s that game with the curious name that people play in parking lots outside football games. Except most of those people don’t play like most of the people we saw at the World Championships of Cornhole. I got smoked in doubles by a 65-year-old grandma. No shame. That old lady made 3s like Larry Bird in an NBA All-Star contest. Just flat drained ’em. These people taught me how you don’t just throw and hope to make the bag fly through the hole. You have to put a little touch on the bag. You slide it up the board, you block your opponent and you call out “air mail” when you feel like naming your shot billiards-style. And you do this with the same consistency that any top player does in his or her sport. They did this, too. They did this when they weren’t complaining to us that it’s high time cornhole got its own TV show. They pointed out how poker, darts, pool and synchronized swimming all have made it inside the TV set, so why not us? The best we could promise them for now is our little Internet show (and its accompanying TV special).

Watch for yourself. Maybe it’s time cornhole went big-time. Cornhole wasn’t even offered at PJ’s birthday party. No regrets — for visiting Turfway that time or this.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Before the Baltimore Ravens left for New Orleans on Monday, they packed up all of their equipment and gear. With a long week ahead of them before the Super Bowl on Sunday, players and staff went to great lengths to include everything they considered most important, everything vital to their performance.

So it was a given that their four cornhole boards, which occupied a central piece of real estate in the locker room at their training facility this season, were coming with them.

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a secret to our success,” said Morgan Cox, the team’s long snapper.

Cornhole, a Midwestern pastime also known in some parts of the country as Bags, is a game of stupefying simplicity. Points are scored by tossing a small bag, typically filled with resin, into a round hole cut into a slanted board.

The Ravens take the game seriously. They played games before practice and after meetings, the soft thud of the cornhole sack providing a sense of stability — and community — in a roller-coaster season. It was a foregone conclusion that the boards would make the trip to Louisiana.

As Ray Rice watched, quarterback Joe Flacco tossed a bag in a recent cornhole game before practice.

In fact, quarterback Joe Flacco and punter Sam Koch are members of the American Cornhole Organization, the sport’s governing body. Frank Geers, the A.C.O.’s president and chief executive, said Koch called him late last week to stock up on additional supplies — and Koch even saved about $10 by using his membership discount.

The Ravens have bonded over cornhole, Koch said. An N.F.L. locker room can be an isolating place, with offensive and defensive players seldom interacting. Why would a starting defensive end strike up a conversation with the third-string quarterback? But inside the Ravens’ locker room, cornhole has been a unifying force — like a Monday night bowling league.

“When you pick up a bag and start playing, you have an instant reason to talk to guys and build relationships,” Koch said.

Based on the Ravens’ cornhole rankings (yes, there is such a thing), Koch is the team’s top player. The only person who consistently challenges Koch is Darren Sanders, the Ravens’ director of security. Offensive lineman Michael Oher used to give Koch problems, but teammates say Oher’s confidence and technique have waned in recent months. It has not gone unnoticed.

“Mike isn’t even in the top five anymore,” Cox said. “He’s really declined.”

The Ravens began to play cornhole in 2010, when defensive end Cory Redding introduced the team to the game’s finer points. (Redding, who now plays for the Indianapolis Colts, is also a member of the A.C.O.) It did not take long for cornhole to catch on. The players found that it was an easy way to unwind after practices and pass the time between meetings.

The Ravens usually organize several tournaments over the course of the season, with singles and doubles brackets. Flacco and Oher’s team is called the Untouchables.

The Ravens even set up a special Twitter account for cornhole-specific updates (@RavensCornhole), though posts this season have been few and far between. The team, by most accounts, has been more concerned with winning games than tabulating rankings.

Justin Tucker, the team’s rookie kicker, said he benefited from some informal cornhole training before he entered the N.F.L. Once he joined the Ravens, he worked hard to refine his self-described “herky-jerky” throwing motion.

Like Oher, Tucker has seen his cornhole aptitude deteriorate during the playoffs. Nailing a winning a 47-yard field goal against the Denver Broncos in the divisional round earlier this month provided some solace, if only temporarily.

“I used to be top five around here,” Tucker said. “But I’ve fallen off. It’s a shame.”

Koch, who grew up in Nebraska and has been with the Ravens since 2006, said he never played cornhole until it made its locker-room debut three years ago. He realizes this might come as a surprise. “Coming from Nebraska, and it being the Cornhusker State, you automatically think cornhole,” he said.

Regardless, Koch said it took him only about four or five weeks to develop a technique that suited him. He now feels most comfortable tossing the bag like a Frisbee, with a slight clockwise rotation. Consistency is what sets him apart. He is the Stan Musial of the cornhole toss, at least in N.F.L. circles.

“Sam took it to another level,” Cox said. “He raised the bar for everybody else.”

Koch would have a tougher time on the professional cornhole circuit, at least according to Geers, who created the A.C.O. with the goal of spreading the game. The country’s best players are capable of earning up to $10,000 a year. The world champion is recognized as the King of Cornhole.

“After the Super Bowl, I’d love to have some of these guys on the front line against our top players in the country,” Geers said. “I bet they’d be floored.”