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Cornhole scholarships FILE PHOTO: Two high school students have received scholarships to attend college on a cornhole scholarship. (DavidPrahl/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
ROCK HILL, Colo. — Two high school students are going to college not to make their cornhole skills better, but because of their cornhole skills.
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Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick have signed letters of intent to compete in the backyard and tailgating game.
The pair, who attend ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, will be going to Winthrop University, a Division I school in Rock Hill, South Carolina, KUSA reported.
They are actually the “first two cornhole commitments” for the team that will be helmed by coach and pro cornhole player Dusty Thompson, The Herald reported.
“This is history being made. I’ve only pursued these people. These are the best of the best,” Thompson told the newspaper.
Unlike with some more mainstream sports, the scholarships are partials unless the sport grows. Thompson didn’t say how much the athletes will be getting or what the money will cover. The Washington Post reported that it will cover about half of their tuition. The out-of-state rate is about $31,312 a year.
The sport is not NCAA-sanctioned, so it’s run more like an esports team at Winthrop, The Herald reported.
The game is not new to Hamann or Remmick, who were two-time American Cornhole League high school league national champions in 2021 and 2022, KUSA reported. They started playing when their parents joined a weekly cornhole tournament in Littleton, Colorado. The Post reported that while the adults enjoyed their time in the bar, the pair started playing in the tournaments, netting $60 on a $5 buy-in. Still, they had their sights set on other sports — Hamann played soccer and Remmick played baseball.
They took a chance and entered the ACL’s high school championship with two other friends and ended up beating about a dozen other teams and bringing home $8,000 for ThunderRidge.
“Cornhole is being played from ages, like 3 to 70,” Hamann told KUSA while talking about the college opportunity. “I mean, there’s ages all around the board, and there’s so many kids that want to make this their career, and I think this is the gateway to make that happen. And I’m excited to be part of that.”
They’re not just playing for a university in the future, they are also members of the pro team, the Colorado Timber.
It is my great pleasure to introduce our newest Colorado Timber. Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick. They both are elite…
They are also helping the next generation of cornhole players to love the game, with Hamann teaching elementary school students how to play.
“We get to kind of pave the pathway for this new thing to come,” Hamann told the Post.
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