New sports club takes off in Cherokee

Soon after Paul Malone discovered cornhole, the longtime Cherokee resident and avid tournament golfer found a preference in tossing hacky sacks to swinging clubs. What began as a family pastime over Thanksgiving week a couple of years ago led to the founding of the West Colbert Cornslingers — a community cornhole club now drawing members from across north Alabama.

It all began in Malone’s own backyard. With family coming to stay for the holidays one November, Malone said he searched for something fun to keep his kids and grandkids occupied during their visit.

“I bought a couple of cheap boards, and we started playing,” Malone recalled. “We had a blast. We were out there playing at 1 o’clock in the morning in like 40-degree weather. I said later, you know, this is a really fun game.”

Weeks later, he found himself purchasing higher- grade boards and grew his new hobby through watching tournaments on television, and by following professional leagues on YouTube and social media. His biggest obstacle, finding opponents.

“We’re the only club in the Shoals,” he said. “The closest to us would be Decatur, Huntsville or Corinth (Mississippi). There are pros in our area who don’t have a place to play. You know, cornhole is big in the north and in Texas. Even in south Alabama, but for some reason, it really hasn’t taken off right here.”

Malone is trying to change that. Deciding to form his own club, he turned to a local group he knew might help him garner more interest from his friends and neighbors.

When he approached Cherokee Parks and Recreation President Mike Malone, who happened to be a distant cousin, little did Paul know that the board had already been pondering ideas to bring more community events to their small town in Colbert County.

“We’re always trying to come up with things to do for the community. We hold an Easter Egg Hunt every year. We have an Independence Day celebration, and we do Trunk or Treat for the kids in October. We were looking for more ideas when Paul called me and brought the idea of cornhole up,” Mike said. “I liked the idea. I had played cornhole at other people’s houses before, you know, at gatherings and things, but never anything like this.”

Mike took the idea to the rest of the board, which had some experience hosting tournaments through their sponsorship of a local youth basketball league.

Rallying the board members, Mike then took the proposal to the Colbert County Board of Education and was granted permission to use the gym at the former Cherokee Middle School, which closed in 2007 due to declining enrollment.

“I want to give Superintendent Nathan Fuller and the board of education a shoutout. They’ve really helped us get this all started, and without them, we wouldn’t have a place to hold our basketball league or the cornhole,” Mike said. “I give props to them because, you know, we’re a small town. We’re doing what we can to keep it alive.”

With the green light from the school board, Mike also got the idea to get Cherokee High School students involved in the effort, a creative plan that also helped lower the club’s startup costs. He and Paul contacted agriculture instructor Daryl Behel, who recruited the high school’s FFA students to build six sets of cornhole boards.

“Parks and Rec bought all the materials and handed those over to the students,” Mike said. “The FFA kids did an awesome job building the boards for us.”

With a dozen cornhole boards, Paul said the club is equipped to hold open play for beginners and casual players, as well as weekly tournaments for more competitive and professional throwers.

“We’ve had 13-year-olds and an 83-year-old playing in the same tournament,” Paul said. “We’ve got one guy, Nelson Wallace, and he’s 82. He comes every week. We’ve got a lot of followers on Facebook, and I guess this grew too by word of mouth. We’ve got people coming from Haleyville, which is probably about an hour and 20 minutes away. They come pretty often, but they like cornhole and travel all over to play. We’ve got people like that.”

When the West Colbert Cornslingers hosted its first round of games in March, Paul said about 30 people showed up for opening night.

While the weekly tournaments vary in participation, Paul and Mike said they hope to continue to grow the organization to eventually become sanctioned as an official league. It would then be able to host qualifying matches for competitions at the state and national levels through affiliates like the American Cornhole Organization (ACO) or the American Cornhole Association (ACA).

“That’s the long-range plan, but we’re still building our numbers,” Paul said, adding the tournaments are conducted in a blind-draw format to help pair throwers according to their skill level.

“That’s what makes it fun,” he said. “We put everyone’s names and stats in a computer and the computer spits it out and helps us form the teams. So, you don’t know who your partner or who your opponent is. We try to make it fun and fair for everyone.”

The blind-draw aspect also makes the games a great place to meet new friends and players, Paul added.

“Some people might feel a little intimidated, but that’s what is so great about this. It’s a place for everyone,” he said. “Even if you’ve never played cornhole, we welcome players of all skill levels and experience. They can come over and get on a board and learn how to play. We’d be happy to help them and teach them how to throw.”

Paul, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, said he hopes the cornhole tournaments gain a following from older adults in the community who, like himself, fear they have to give up some of their more physically demanding hobbies.

“I’ve had some injuries, and I’m not able to golf as much as I would like. Cornhole is something you can play even if you’ve got some disabilities,” Paul said. “I love to compete, and this is a sport you can compete in even if you’ve got some physical conditions. Plus, cornhole is fairly inexpensive. You can buy a couple of boards — or you can build them — and you can start playing in the back yard.”

He and Mike also hope the small fee to participate in the Cornslingers tournaments or open play will also help to further community events hosted by Cherokee Parks and Recreation.

Proceeds from the weekly events, Mike said, go towards the board’s fund, which pays for events like the annual Independence Day fireworks show.

“That’s the purpose of all of this. It’s to get people involved,” he said. “It’s to give the people some recreation, and this is something everyone can get involved in. Something for the whole family.”

WEST COLBERT CORNSLINGERS  

ABOUT: The unsanctioned cornhole league hosts tournaments for competitive throwers and open play for more casual players every week. Organizers say all ages and experience levels are welcome. 

WHEN: Thursdays at 6 to 9 p.m.  

WHERE: In the gym of the former Colbert County Middle School, 4595 Old Lee Hwy in Cherokee  

COST TO PLAY: General admission for open play is $5 per person (multiple games allowed as long as boards are available); Tournaments are $10 per player unless otherwise posted for special events.  

CONTACT: For information, visit the West Colbert Cornslingers on Facebook