Dawn Rodgers's Cornhole Biography

John Fuentez

I am ACL Pro John Fuentez from the Mid-West Conference and this is my story of how I became a professional cornhole player for the ACL.

About 16-17 yrs ago we had an adult wiffle ball league in my home town. They always had boards on the side lines. Peaked the interest obviously. The older man that owned the land we played on was always beating up on everybody. His name was Ronnie Mac. He was the only one, well the only one I remember at least, with that perfect spinning flat bag. Back then I held the bag on the corner and flipped it. I was good, but inconsistent depending on how the bag landed. So after playing there all the time, we of course decided to make our own boards so we could play more often. Then it just became what we did at all family stuff and most weekends. In the beginning there was never a thought of becoming a professional cornhole player..... but look at me now. I love this sport. I mainly love the people. The cornhole family is amazing. Don't know what I would do without it. There is nothing better in life than walking into a tournament on opening day and hearing the sound of hundreds of bags hitting the boards.

Ryan Smith

I am ACL Pro Ryan Smith from the Atlantic Conference and this is my story of how I became a professional cornhole player for the ACL.

My brother Shawn Smith got me involved playing competitively and things basically took off from there. I wanted to be able to compete and beat the top guys in my area so I purchased a set of boards & bags to practice. About 4 years later, here I am, recognized as one of the top players in the country and striving for more.

Justin Doss

I am ACL Pro Justin Doss from the Mid-South Conference and this is my story of how I became a professional cornhole player for the American Cornhole League. I started playing cornhole at my friends house when I was around 10 years old. We would play every now and then against each other, but I really began playing when I went to college. I went to the University of Louisville and I began to play at tailgates. My friends and I are extremely competitive and this is where the love of the game began. I always wanted to be the best and began practicing at home to get better. I saw an ESPN broadcast in the summer of 2018 and started going to local ACL events to try and compete. The inner drive to become the best keeps pushing me to improve my game each and everyday.

Allan Rockwell

I am ACL Pro Allan Rockwell from the Atlantic Conference and this is my story of how I became a professional cornhole player for the ACL. Started 11 years ago at an outside venue called " The Knot Hole Station". Ken Parsons, Owner, got the group started. This is the same place Pros players James Baldwin, Harlee Culpepper, Ronnie Culpepper and Allison Heine played on a weekly basis as there was no other place around playing. After playing for months, the 1st time me and another player threw a double 4 bagger everyone clapped and roared out loud as that was unheard of. Played there for almost a year before I got in a National group. When $1000 cornhole tourney would come out on Facebook that was 4 hours away, we would go and before long we were traveling to all of them.

We are sorry to report that on September 29, 2021, the Cornhole world lost one of its “OGs”, Allan “Rocky” Rockwell, after a fight with prostate cancer.
You can read his obituary here

Derek Fateiger

I am ACL Pro Derek Fateiger from the Carolina Conference and this is my story of how and when I started playing cornhole and worked my way up to an ACL Pro. When I was in high school me and my step dad heard about a cornhole league close by. We thought we were good and it sounded fun. Turns out we weren't very good. Me being competitive pushed me to get better and here we are 10 years later.

Mike Kitzmiller

I am Mike Kitzmiller ACL Pro from the MidEast Conference and this is my story of how and when I started playing cornhole and worked my way up to an ACL Pro. Started playing tailgates 10 yrs ago slowly got involved with local tourneys!!! 5 yrs ago started getting more serious getting in bigger tournaments which kept growing more and more each yr and now entering the Pro Level is a big step and looking forward to the challenge

Joshua Slocum

I am TeamAddicts Brand Ambassador Joshua Slocum from the Mid-East Conference and this is my story of how I started playing cornhole. I started playing cornhole in between softball games while at tournaments. Once the winter rolled around I joined my first league with NEPA cornhole and from there the rest was history.

Paul Hardie

I am ACL Pro Paul Hardie from the Southeast Conference and this is my story of how I became a professional cornhole player for the ACL. Like everyone, I started playing in the backyard and BBQ’s. I always have been athletic and played all sports, then a good friend of mine Kevin McCord got a set of boards and challenged me to this new game and just kept beating my Butt. So he made me a set of Michigan CH boards and beating me didn’t come that easy anymore. I knew nothing about tournament CH and about 3 yrs ago, 2017, I saw a blind draw at a local bar called Mugs and Jugs (the home of CornHole Life/CornHole USA) and did pretty good in it. I also met some great people like Kevin Smith Jr and Tex Christman, who told me about the ACL and how they traveled all over playing and said I should come check it out. So I did and played in all Regional's, Conference’s and Nationals. But I did not play 1 competitive level game ever. I always played everything in the advanced level from the start and like with Kevin McCord, I got my butt whooped by them but managed to put together some great tourneys with some awesome finish’s