Our Story
What is Legacy Cornhole?
Like many other I played cornhole at cookouts and family gatherings. It was not until I attended a local regional hosted by the North Georgia Cornhole Association that I found out about the professional side of cornhole. I was hooked from the very first event. Cornhole became an outlet for me. A way for me to escape the stresses of life and as a former athlete it was a way to fuel my competitive spirit as well. I worked hard at my game and quickly moved up into the advanced ranks. Cornhole was becoming a large part of my life.
On January 18th at 11;29am I received that I had a new baby nephew and his name was Owen. He was born premature at 34 weeks due to some complications that were happening with my sister-in-law. He was 5lbs 8oz and 17.72" long. He was born with a rare disease called Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome or SLOS. SLOS is a rare genetic condition that affects multiple body systems. Individuals with SLOS have abnormally low levels of a chemical known as 7-dehydrocholestrol. The severity of the symptoms varies from individual to individual. The next day I went to play in an ACL regional and the first event was singles. Coming into that regional I was excited to play, but I was not very focused. Mentally I was all over the place, because I was worried about Owen. I started the day 2-0. Then I received a phone call from my brother that left me speechless. Doctors has further researched Owen's case and not only was his case severe.....it was fatal. Owen was pronounced dead on January 19th at 2:00pm. My heart was broken by the news. I forfeited my next two matches and rushed home to be with my family.
The news about Owen sent me spiraling down a path of anger, frustration and depression. I was angry! Angry at the world. Angry all the time. I questioned "why did this happen to my family?" Every time that I would go to throw cornhole I would think about him and I would throw terrible. My cornhole game quickly out of control just like my mental state. I became highly aggravated with the game. My love and desire to play was gone. If you are a baseball fan, then you may have heard of the "yips". The "yips" are referred to as a players' sudden inability to throw a baseball accurately. I developed this in my cornhole game. I was a carpet bagger and I would throw the roll shot. When my "yips" started things got to where every bag I threw looked like a roll bag and I would kick my arm way out away from my body to throw. I went from throwing four baggers to missing the board completely with all four bags. I could not feel my throw anymore, nothing felt right, Things got so bad that I taught myself to throw with my opposite hand. As my anger grew I decided to step away from the game in hopes that it would reset my muscle memory, but no. Things continued to get worse, so I decided to step away from cornhole again. I was embarrassed to play, because the player that I had worked so hard to become was gone.
Being away from the game created an even bigger void in my life. I missed being around it. I missed the people, the atmosphere, the joy that it brought me before Owen's death. I was struggling to find happiness. I felt like my world was falling apart. I spent many days praying for help. My family could tell that I was different. I would often find myself thinking about Owen. 3 months, 6 months, 9 months after his death. The questions would come to mind "What if he would have lived. What would he have accomplished with his life? Who would he have impacted?", then one day it hit me "What am I doing with my life?". I needed to redirect all of this anger into something good, so I picked up the bags once again.
As i stated earlier being a former athlete and now as a PE teacher and coach. That competitive fire was still inside of me. I was not going to give in to the anger. I refused to let it win. I slowly began to tweak my throw. I went from being a non-stepper to a stepper. I went from having a big backswing to virtually no backswing at all. When I would feel myself getting frustrated I would step back and think about Owen, about how I was doing this for him. I had been given the opportunity of life and the chance to impact others. I was not going to allow my emotions to spoil that gift.
I created Legacy Cornhole in remembrance of Owen and as our mission statement reads:
"We are born with a purpose.
What you do with it is up to you.
Leave your mark."
He helped remind me that I had a choice and for him I chose to inspire. His life was brief, but it changed me. It motivated me to create something bigger than myself. Here at Legacy Cornhole we are about more than just bags. We are here to inspire others to find something you love and chase it. Chase the dream, because we do not know how long we have here.
So be kind, love one another and leave your mark!