Given the treacherous social dynamics of high school, Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick weren’t eager to tell their peers about their hobby. “I would say we were a little embarrassed of it at first,” Hamann says.

“Oh, yeah,” Remmick says. “I didn’t tell a soul that I played cornhole for the first year, year and a half. It just kind of seemed stupid to say, ‘I’m going to a cornhole tournament tonight.’”

It’s safe to say that their secret is out.

In February, Winthrop University in South Carolina announced it was awarding the nation’s first cornhole scholarships to Hamann and Remmick, seniors at ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch. The story has been picked up by NPR, the Washington Post, and Good Morning America, to name just three of the media outlets who were bowled (bagged?) over by the news. “My one word to describe my feelings for these past four months is ‘shocked,’” Hamann says. “I never would have thought that this side hustle I just started for fun could take me to a Division I-level college. It is absolutely crazy.”

Hamann began playing competitively about three years ago with the Littleton-based South Side Baggers Cornhole Club, which meets every Thursday night. About six months later, Remmick walked into the bar that the Baggers frequented at the time for some friendly cornhole competition. “He thought he was good,” Hamann says. “He came into our game cocky.” Remmick disputes this account: “I knew he was going to beat me.”

Jaxson Remmick and Gavin Hamann
Jaxson Remmick and Gavin Hamann. Photo courtesy of Dusty Thompson

And Hamann did. The two became friends anyway and began playing tournaments together. The duo enjoyed immediate success, winning the American Cornhole League (ACL) National High School Championships in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2021 and 2022.

Both Hamann and Remmick figured that would be the peak of their partnership. Hamann had been accepted into a number of schools on the East Coast and was eager to enroll at Florida State University as an everyday student. Remmick was thinking about taking a gap year.

But then Winthrop called.

Based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, just across the border from Charlotte, Winthrop has a history of embracing what others might consider, um, unconventional athletics. In 2019, the school became one of the first D-I institutions to start an esports—i.e., video game—program. It has since grown to include more than 90 athletes, more than 40 of whom are on some sort of scholarship. The Eagles esports team has won two national championships and in 2023 debuted the 6,500-square-foot Winthrop Esports Center, which features a game room capable of seating 56 gamers at one time.

Winthrop, in other words, intends to become the premier university for esoteric sports.

Photo courtesy of Dusty Thompson

Cornhole seemed the next logical step toward achieving that goal. For one, Rock Hill is home to the ACL’s headquarters, which will double as the Eagles’ training center. Secondly, the game is still small, but growing quickly. ACL, the sport’s governing body in the United States, has broadcast deals with CBS and ESPN and reports that the prize money at its tournaments has doubled every two years, to more than $8 million. “Winthrop is trying to get ahead of the curve before other schools do,” says Dusty Thompson, Winthrop’s cornhole coach.

So, naturally, when the Eagles decided to launch a cornhole team starting in fall 2024, Thompson wanted the bluest of the blue chips to form the foundation of the program. Hamann and Remmick, however, weren’t so sure about the idea.

“I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to do it,” Remmick says. “But once we toured the school, that’s when my mind switched from a no to a yes, just because I liked the atmosphere, I liked everybody there, and Dusty made it super welcoming.”

Because cornhole is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, Remmick and Hamann won’t be eligible for NIL cash, but they will be able to keep the prize money they win from ACL tournaments. They’ll also be able to accept sponsorship deals, like their current partnership with Kawasaki Kids Foundation, a Colorado nonprofit that increases awareness about Kawasaki Disease, a rare condition that causes inflammation in the walls of blood vessels and mostly afflicts children under five.

The greatest reward, however, might be their newfound social currency. “Now,” Hamann says, “everybody thinks we’re the shit.”