July 6, 2025 • 29 mins
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From a road trip sleeping in the trunk of a car during a Florida road trip to the helm of a 20-year cornhole business, Frank Geers shares the remarkable journey that transformed a simple backyard game into an international competitive sport. As founder of the American Cornhole Organization (ACO), Frank's entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision have literally changed how millions play and experience cornhole.
Frank's story begins with a marketing insight while working at his company Harris Hawk—seeing cornhole boards as potential billboards for brand promotion. What started as a business concept evolved into a passionate mission to legitimize and standardize the game. With refreshing candor, he recounts the early days when he had to explain what cornhole even was, and how his wife cried when he announced his plans to build a business around it.
The conversation reveals fascinating innovations that revolutionized the sport, including Frank's creation of the now-standard two-sided bag with "stick" and "slide" surfaces, adding strategic complexity to gameplay. We journey through ACO's growth from local competitions to major tournaments annually spanning from California to Florida and even expanding internationally.
Most compelling is Frank's insight into the dedicated cornhole community. His "Road Dog" award—honoring players who attend 13+ tournaments yearly—has grown from 9 recipients to 69 in just four years, with enthusiasts traveling thousands of miles and rearranging their lives around competition schedules. Frank estimates he's personally driven over a million miles promoting the sport he loves.
Whether you're curious about entrepreneurship, sports development, or simply want to understand how a backyard pastime landed on ESPN, this conversation offers a unique window into what happens when you follow an unlikely dream with unwavering persistence. Ready to learn more about competitive cornhole? Visit AmericanCornhole.com or contact Frank directly for tournament information.
You can find ACO at https://americancornhole.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy.
I'm your host, dan, and eachweek we'll embark on a new
adventure, discovering memoriesand life lessons of our
incredible guests, from everydaytravelers to thrill seekers and
everyone in between.
This podcast is your front rowseat to inspiring stories of
passion, resilience and thepursuit of happiness.
So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
(00:24):
Well, I'm excited for my drivetoday.
It's a beautiful morning herein Cincinnati and I'm actually
in the car.
It's been a while since I'vehad a guest in the car.
My guest today is Frank Gears.
Frank is the founder of AmericanCornhole Organization.
(00:49):
Yep, you heard that right,we're going to talk about
cornhole today.
Favorite pastime game slashsport of many.
Frank spent a number of yearsworking with his dad in the
family business.
He then ventured off andstarted a marketing company and
then, 20 years ago, again formedAmerican Cornhole Organization.
(01:12):
I hope you enjoy this episodeas we head out on our little
short drive this morning.
Welcome to the show, frank.
Well, frank, I thought we mightjust take a drive around the
neighborhood and then venture upto the headquarters of American
Cornhole Organization.
(01:32):
I believe you call that ACO forshort.
We go by ACO, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
The acronym stands for American Cornhole
Organization.
It is funny.
Anytime Dan and I get togetherto talk with a reporter or
somebody like that, I alwayshave to make sure that they
understand that we are theorganization ACO American
Cornhole Organization becausethere are other groups out there
.
I've been around for like 20years but there are other groups
(02:01):
that jumped on board too.
I could not trademark the nameAmerican Cornhole, so there are
other groups that jumped onboard.
I could not trademark the nameAmerican Cornhole, so there are
other groups that came on.
There's American CornholeLeague, american Cornhole
Association, but we'rerecognized as the governing body
and have been around thelongest out of anybody.
I've got a car story maybe.
I don't know.
I'll think about it.
(02:22):
It'll come to me in a secondmaybe epic road trips.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Epic road trips man, I love it.
Okay, cool, and then we'll talkabout Cornhole.
Absolutely, and I'm going toask you for just two or three
minutes because my listeners,you know, maybe some of them
don't even know what Cornhole is.
Okay, give me the history of itin three minutes, can you do
that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, we that yeah we're gonna do that cool.
Then we'll talk about aco andhow you.
What took you down that path.
Okay, firework for your dad fora long time.
I worked for my pops for awhile.
We um, my dad uh had a reallygood business.
I was called f james gears andcompany um and he was a
basically a print brokerfulfillment type of uh service
and I came out of uh school.
I went to xavier university andcame out of school and went
straight into work for dadbecause I'd worked for him as a
(03:08):
kid, growing up and through highschool and college days and it
just parlayed that into wantingto go be with my dad.
I enjoyed being with my dad andstarted that and was with him
for I don't know, maybe 20, notquite 20 years, 15 years,
probably out of school.
And you know, I went to dad oneday and I said, know, maybe 20,
not quite 20 years, 15 years,probably out of school.
(03:30):
And you know, I went to dad oneday and I said, dad, I need to
move on and ended up leaving.
I cried the day.
I told him I had to leave butmoved on and started a marketing
firm called Harris Hawk Okay,with a buddy by the name of
Frank Batchy at the time andFrank and I came together.
I used to run a golf outing.
For like 35 years I did thisfamily golf outing so I've
(03:52):
always been into entertainingpeople and putting on activities
and stuff, and this golf outingthat I put on was called the
Bologna Open.
It was the Gears Bologna Openand I grew it, dan, to the point
that we had over like 100people.
The biggest year I had 100people.
A buddy came in from Boston,some friends came in from the
Dallas market and buddies fromcollege and high school came
(04:15):
back to play.
So those were great days withthe Bologna Open and that's how
I came to know Frank Bacci, andFrank Bacci and I started a
company called Harris Hawk whichwas a marketing company and
that was really a cool littleventure for about two and a half
three years when a year or twointo that business, we ended up
winning an award locally herefor the fastest growing little
(04:37):
company.
But I was always looking forwhile working for that company,
I was always looking for acreative way to market a company
.
Okay, and uh, I came acrossthis game called cornhole and uh
, I looked at it and I said, man, that's a billboard waiting to
happen.
You know logo, the logo, theboard logo, the bags, um, you
(04:58):
know, promote companies like youknow Coca-Cola and Budweiser
and you know Domino's pizza,whatever it is, you know it is.
You know just all sorts ofopportunities to showcase those
brands at either festivals ortrade shows.
Or you know bars, restaurants,you know that type of stuff.
So that's kind of how Iinitially got into this world of
(05:20):
cornhole, and at the time thatI got into cornhole, dan, the
only thing people knew cornholefor was a sex act, a dirty sex
act, and that's about it, butit's it's.
It's crazy, though, to see, youknow, and in the beginning too,
it was really hard for us to,um, you know, sell the concept
of cornhole to people.
I did not invent cornhole.
All I did was make cornholebetter.
(05:41):
Um, is what I did yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And uh, speaking of that, give me, give us the three
minute elevator pitch on thehistory of the.
Is it a game or is it a sport?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
so.
So cornhole.
Cornhole is a we.
It started as a game, and itwas me that said, hey, why can't
this be a sport?
You know, how did basketballbecome a sport?
How did golf become a sport?
You know, somebody just said,hey, let's take this game and
let's put more official rulesand regulations to it and let's
become a governing body and pushthis thing forward to.
(06:12):
And that's what I did.
I took a backyard game that Idid not create and I created it
into a sport.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Any idea?
Where did cornhole, the game,come from?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That's the number one question that everybody always
asks and there is no set answeron that.
I can just tell you that one ofthe most interesting stories, I
think and there's some validityto this is that it was a game
that was derived originallythrough the Indians, where they
would actually and it was a kidout of Indian Hill, that kind of
(06:44):
did the research paper on thisthing.
But the game was where Indianswould dig a little hole in the
earth and they would fill asatchel with corn or beans or
whatever, sure, and they'd tieit and they would stand back
from that hole and they wouldjust chuck this bag towards this
hole in the ground and that'sliterally basically the concept
(07:05):
of Cornwall.
But where it originated, nobodyreally knows.
Now I will say that there'salso a lot of traces that go
back to a game in Germany.
Okay, and you know, cincinnatihas a lot of heritage for
Germans, sure, our Germanheritage.
It is kind of believed thatthat could, that could be also
the the forefront of it.
Yeah, chicago and cincinnati,uh, were the two places that
(07:30):
really laid claim to reallypushing this thing forward, this
game of cornhole.
Now chicago, you know, 20 plusyears ago, really referred to
this game as bags.
They called it bags.
Okay, uh and in bag, bag-o orsomething like that Bag-O is a
little plastic board game.
That's like a brand.
Yeah, those are a little.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I don't know if cheesy is a good word to use but
they're a little like that's achild's toy, child's toy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
There you go, that's what I'm looking for, but no,
it's.
Chicago battled with bags, webattled with Cornhole.
When I with cornhole, when Istarted in this thing, cornhole
was already known as the namecornhole.
Within three, four millionpeople within this region, or in
Kentucky, cincinnati, ohio,southern Indiana, they all
recognize this, this game, thisbackyard game, as cornhole.
(08:17):
So I always thought you knowwhy do we need to change the
name?
Let's just keep it cornhole.
Tongue-in-cheek it was and I 20years later.
Now people really have come toknow.
I mean, shoot, it's on ESPN.
Well, everywhere you go, there'slike a cornhole for it right,
you can't get away from itanymore, man, I'll tell you in
the day.
It was funny because you know Ilive in a very nice community.
(08:38):
I feel very blessed that I livewhere I live, in Terrace Park
and stuff like that, and I'vegot a lot of good friends in the
area.
But you know my wife in theearly days she cried when I told
her I was going to go startthis.
Here's what I'm going to do.
Yeah, what, what are you doing?
And in the community we live inor I live in Dan it's got
(09:00):
doctors and lawyers and peoplewith jobs that you know,
manufacturing people.
And here I am a guy, that'sjust you know doing a college
game of cornhole and going outand partying with people on a
weekly basis.
So she was like how are yougoing to support a family of
three with this?
And I'm like you've got tobelieve in me.
(09:20):
You've got to believe in me,man, I've got a vision here.
I've got a dream.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I've got a dream, that's cool.
Hey, we'll back up a little bit.
Best I remember, your dad and Iwas friends with your mom and
dad and that's how I met you.
But your dad was kind of a carguy.
Best I remember or liked cars,he drove a Lexus for about
400,000 miles, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Drove that Lexus to the ground.
That was a beauty man.
It was blue.
Yeah, it was probably in theearly days of Lexus.
I don't know how long the brandof Lexus has been around, but
he was an earlier follower ofLexus.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
He was pretty early.
Yeah, what was your first?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
car.
My first car was a Cavalier, aChevy Cavalier.
My parents helped me get it.
It was a little over 16 yearsold when I got it and it was a
fabulous little creature.
Sure it was, but I'll tell you,my most memorable.
Actually I have two memorablecars.
Yeah, let's you know, over mylife I've I've rarely had a
(10:17):
brand new car.
I the next car after myCavalier I got was a diesel
station wagon.
Okay, so that thing man wouldfire up, but I don't know if
you're familiar with diesel cars.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
That was pretty early days of diesel, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
The diesel cars.
And then another car I ended upwith was my father-in-law.
I ended up buying his and I gotit for really cheap.
I got it for like a thousandbucks or something like that,
but it was this.
There was this Cadillac that hehad.
He loved this Cadillac.
It was a boat dude.
This thing was like from tip toend it was probably 18 feet.
(10:53):
It felt like it was ginormousand you would take a turn.
And when you took a turn withthis thing, the front end was
done making the turn while theback end was still coming around
.
And I mean it was just a boat.
And here I am, you knowwhatever 27 years old, married,
just married, and stuff likethat, and I'm this young kid
driving this old man's.
You know Cadillac, but that wasa memorable little car that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I had there too the Cavalier.
Was that automatic a stick, or?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It was automatic, Automatic, Automatic.
I've not.
I've never.
I've always wanted to drivesticks, but I've never been
efficient at driving a stick andnever had a stick vehicle
myself.
So I got to get one of thoseone of these days.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You need to get one.
So you travel a lot, obviouslynow, but any epic road trips in
your life, either with yourparents or with your own family
or just out on the road yeah,there's the shop.
Hey, that's actually corporateheadquarters, right, corporate
headquarters, right there, buddy.
Corporate headquarters of ACO.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, actually I've gone on a couple of cool trips.
I won't bother telling youabout the one to Florida.
Two of my epic trips came inFlorida.
One was in high school duringspring break with a bunch of
friends that I went down therewith, and the other one to
Florida was with some buddiesfrom college.
I ended up getting down thereand I had to sleep in the trunk
of the car and all I rememberwas kind of holding the trunk
(12:10):
sort of open so I could stillbreathe, and all I remember is
Mosquito, because we found asubdivision that was being
developed and stuff like thatand parked our car back there
because all the hotels werebooked up.
And so I'm back in the trunk ofthis car sleeping and all I
remember was the mosquitoescoming in my ear.
But no, my max most epic, uhroad trip that I can really
think of off the top of my headhere was, um, my son max.
(12:34):
I have three sons, okay, myyoungest son is charlie, my
middle son is max and my oldestson is bailey likes to go by
john these days, yeah, sure, butcall him bailey.
But my middle son, he's been anaspiring singer and stuff like
that and he's kind ofadventuresome.
Sure, he ended up doing a roadtrip with me in the box truck.
Box truck is the truck that forthe aco, that carries all the
(12:55):
boards and equipment and stuffacross the country.
And you know, I'm on, I'm onroad excursions all the time,
but this one particular trip wehad, our world championships was
going to be taking place out inlas vegas, nevada.
Okay, I had him drive with mein the truck, all the equipment,
to Las Vegas.
But on that road trip westopped by, you know, some
(13:15):
friends in Kansas had just anamazing steak dinner in Kansas,
okay, and then from there wewent to Colorado, ended up
taking the box truck over to aplace called Estes Park.
Oh yeah, it's a beautiful place,absolutely gorgeous place.
He and I climbed the mountains,ended up spending a couple
minutes, you know, looking outat this lake that was tucked up
(13:36):
in top of the mountains.
But then from there we ended upover through Utah, ended up
meeting a friend of mine Iforget the city that we stopped
at in Utah, but it was just areally great trip to Vegas.
Got to Vegas, ran the cornholetournament for the week and then
came back on the southern route, because going to Vegas we went
(13:56):
kind of the northern route.
Coming back from Vegas, we wentthe southern route, went
through Albuquerque.
That's where we spent theevening in Albuquerque.
Then I went to Branson Missouri.
If you ever get to BransonMissouri, that's a really
special place.
Lots of caving in thatcommunity, super golf courses.
But they have a place that, ifyou didn't know where Branson is
(14:17):
, that's near SpringfieldMissouri as well, and out in
that area there's a guy by thename of Johnny Morris.
Johnny Morris owns and operatesBass Pro Shops and Cabela's and
stuff.
He's the originator of all that.
But there's a place called Topof the Rock out there, okay, and
Top of the Rock again, ifanybody's listening to the show,
(14:37):
if you ever get out there, 100%tell you you've got to go there
and check it out.
It is a special place.
But yeah, that was probably oneof my most memorable overall
road trips and it was neat toshare it with one of my sons.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Over all, road trips and it was neat to share it with
one of my sons.
Yeah, that's always fun toshare it with uh, with a, you
know, spouse or or a child, butuh, I don't think I've ever had
anybody tell me about a roadtrip in a box truck.
So that's the first um.
You talked a little bit abouthow you got into uh cornhole and
how this has become.
You know, you're in your 20thyear, I think this is our 20th
season.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, 20th season.
Talked yes, yeah, 20th season.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Talked about how you got into that.
Take us through how that'sgrown and how it's changed over
the years.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So much and so much behind it over the years.
But you know, one of the thingsis when I first got involved
with Cornhole, nobody reallyknew what it was.
I mean, there was people outthere that played it in their
backyards a little bit and stufflike that.
But more often than not I'mgoing to these trade shows to
introduce this sport tocommunities and things like that
(15:37):
and I had to explain.
Every time I started talkingabout cornhole.
I would have to explain tosomebody how you play the game
and what it is and then they'dask you know, where did the name
cornhole come from?
And really the name cornholecome from and really the name
cornhole came from?
A simple thing it's a board witha hole in it that you have bags
that are filled with corn thatyou throw towards it.
(15:58):
Now the bags are no longerfilled with corn, they're filled
with a resin fill.
One of our early clients wasCarnival Cruise.
I did product for the boats.
That's actually how the gamereally got spread
internationally.
The two biggest factors that Itake away from the game being
spread internationally wasCarnival Cruise kind of getting
it started and the US military,so a lot of people in the
(16:22):
military play Cornhole for funIn the early days, educating
people on what the game was.
Now, as you progress, 20 yearslater, after the ACO invented
the two-sided bag, we inventedthe concept of what is that?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I read that on your website.
I'm like what is a two-sidedbag?
I thought it had two sides.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So there actually is a really kind of little cool
story behind that Cornhole.
This was in the early, earlydays.
This was probably 18, 19 yearsago.
One of my uncles, my uncleScott.
He had an upholstery company.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You know what upholstery is right.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, I'm in there, and I found him to be the one to
start sewing my bags initially,so he made my bags for me One
day, in there with Scott, ashe's making a batch of bags for
me that I was getting ready totake to deliver to a client.
While I'm waiting, I'm sittingthere looking at a swatch book
of all these fabrics.
Oh, sure, okay.
And as I'm looking at thisswatch book of all these fabrics
(17:16):
, it just dawned on me I'm likeScott man, because I found a
couple fabrics I like.
One was like this syntheticsuede, and I was like Scott is
there any way that I could taketwo different fabrics and marry
them together to make a bag?
You know, dan, the concept cameto me to create a strategy and
more complexity to the game,because at that point in time,
(17:37):
every bag had been made out ofcanvas Okay, traditional canvas
and every bag was filled with,you know, corn.
Sure, well, for me, thinking ofthis idea of two different
fabrics was each fabric wouldreact differently on the board.
So the idea was to create oneof the fabrics would have more
of a stick, feel Okay, and theother fabric would have more of
(17:58):
a slide, so you'd have a slickand stick or a slide and slip
and slide type of thing.
Yeah, that's how it kind of gotstarted.
It really from here, the restis history.
I did look to you know patentand that at the time and talking
to the attorneys they said youknow, that's a design patent,
you can do it if you want to doit, but it's going to be
(18:18):
relatively easy for somebody toget around that pattern.
Instead of wasting my money andmy energy on it, I just went
forward creating the concept ofthe two-sided bag, which which
now now the industry is filledwith two-sided bags.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Oh, really, yeah, Okay, so it's really basically
become the standard.
Now is it the player's choice.
I'm going to throw with theyeah, so that's funny.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
We actually called it the player's choice.
Oh okay, so it was called theplayer's choice.
So the player had a choice ofthrowing a stick or a slick side
, and the stick side.
The concept with the stick sidewas you would use that to
possibly throw a blocker shot tokeep you from sliding to the
hole.
So, okay, so that was, uh, thatwas a theory with that.
There's a strategy to that.
Yeah, I mean people think aboutit as it's as simple as
(19:01):
throwing the, the um, the baginto the hole.
I'm sure you can.
You can take every sport.
I mean hockey is as simple asputting a puck in the net, you
know, basketball is as simple asshooting the ball into the hoop
.
I mean cornhole is as simple asputting the bag into the hole.
People liken it to shuffleboardand horseshoes and darts and
billiards.
(19:21):
You know kind of along thoselines of sports, of bowling.
The one thing that's differentabout like cornhole than bowling
, for instance, is you can'tplay defense in bowling, it's
just you against the pins upthere.
In cornhole there is strategiesthat you can take by muddying
(19:42):
up the board, using that stickside of the bag to kind of lay
it low, to force the competitorto to go, you know, through your
bag or up over top or cutaround it, you know.
So there is strategies todefense, um, you know, in the
sport of of cornhole.
So it isn't just you know, youagainst the whole type of thing.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah what's a um, what's a tournament weekend like
, because I was looking at thestandings and I'm like, oh my
gosh, there's hundreds of peopleon here.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh yeah, now we've got some big tournaments.
Matter of fact, locally inCincinnati, every September we
run one out in Hamilton, ohio,at a place called the Spooky
Nook.
It's a big sports complex.
Yeah, this past year we had 600plus players come out from like
19 states.
That's a big one.
If any listeners are interested, we will be back there in
(20:27):
September.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, late September.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What's their date?
This year's is the firstweekend of October.
The first weekend of October.
Perfect, the first weekend ofOctober.
But no, that is great, butwhat's it like on a weekend?
You know these things we doacross the country, dan.
They're called and talkingabout road trips and stuff like
that.
You know, these players of mine.
(20:54):
We have an award for players ofours that's called the road dog
.
Okay, and this past year I had43 majors across the country,
from fresno, california, toduluth, minnesota, to fort
walton, florida, to hamilton,ohio, so they're all over the
country buffalo, new york,atlantic city, so they're all
over the country.
We even went international thispast couple seasons where we've
been running one out in the UK,yeah, and then this coming
season we've actually added onein Canada, one in September and
(21:16):
one in May in a place calledPrince Edward Island.
Oh sure, but I was going totell you about, like, talk about
road trips, and we have anaward that we created called the
Road Dog.
The Road Dog is for anybody thattravels to 13 of our majors in
the course of a season.
These majors are the bigtournaments that take place over
(21:37):
a weekend.
Usually we're doing a welcomebash on a Thursday night, we
play cornhole all Friday and allSaturday, and then everybody
goes home.
We're listening to music, we'reeating food, we're enjoying the
people and the environment andthe competition.
I'm not going to kid you, thecompetition is at the highest of
all levels, but these peoplehave it's like almost a family
(22:00):
reunion when you go to theseevents.
But the road dog is forsomebody that goes to 13 of
these events.
Now I told you how manydifferent cities and the places
that we go for these things.
These people have to take offseveral days of work just to go
to one event, right, sure, andit costs them money for entry,
it costs them money for hotelrooms, it costs them money for
travel expenses and they'redoing this 13 weekends of the
(22:22):
year.
This is a commitment.
It is a commitment man.
And we had a friend of mine, adear friend of mine.
Mike Schaefer Sr passed away.
Prior to him passing away, oneof the coolest things that I did
, I think, in my entire cornholecareer was come up with the
concept that we were going tocreate this award in honor of
him, and the award was calledthe Road Dog.
(22:44):
Okay, yeah, a lot of peoplehave to die before they get
recognized.
I wanted to recognize himbefore he died.
Sure, sure, I actually workedwith Mike told him about this
award that we were doing andwhat it was all about.
When he was in the hospital, Iactually took logos to him and
had him help pick out his logothat was going to be for his
(23:04):
award.
Anyway, he did pass away, butthe good news is is he was alive
for the first season of theRoad Dog, so he got to see the
first nine people that ever wonthis award.
Yeah, all right.
Well, I never thought.
What we do for this Road Dog iswe give away a bourbon barrel
with an etched logo in it andthe person's name right, never
conceived that we would everhave more than maybe 10 of these
(23:27):
people doing this on an annualbasis, because that award cost
us a little bit of money too.
Well, the second year, dude, weended up with 23.
The next year, we ended up with53.
So we're in year four of thisroad dog award.
We have 69 people now that havetraveled this past season to 13
(23:47):
or more events.
Some people have done 20, 21 ofthese things.
It's really kind of a coolthing and a passionate thing,
but again, um well, stop Sorry,oh not a good thing in the
neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, I knew better to do that.
I got so enthralled in yourstory.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I'll probably get pulled over by the Terrace Park
police because as you've noticed, I've stopped and I've counted
to five or six.
You've got to do that everytime.
I'm going to stop at this one.
There's not even one here.
I love it.
That's great, but no Cornwallhas been.
It's been a lot of fun over theyears and again I've calculated
out that I've driven over amillion miles already in my life
(24:29):
just for the growth of thisgame and this sport.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Great man.
That is so cool.
Thanks for sharing all that.
Here's a question for you.
Imagine today you could go on aroad trip with anybody, living
or deceased.
Who would it be?
Where might you go?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
There's a couple different paths.
I could go with that If it'sgoing to be like a and you might
load up that box truck witheverybody right there you go.
If it's going to be somebodythat I want to go really kind of
like partying with or somethinglike that, I probably would
grab somebody that's morecomedic in nature, like a will
ferrell or sure a chris farleyor somebody like that.
Go on a little trip with, Ithink that could be a lot, a lot
(25:08):
of fun.
But if I was going to go on alittle trip with, I think that
could be a lot, a lot of fun.
But if I was going to go withsomebody that I'd like to just
learn more about, tap theirbrain a little bit you know who
they were it probably would beWalt Disney, and the reason I
say that is I don't know a lotabout the man, but what I do
know about is that you know hecreated an amazing brand.
He created something that'sit's entertainment for people.
(25:32):
I started by telling you, uh,early on, that you know I ran a
bologna open for my right here,for my family.
I do this.
You know I feel like I'm anentertainer or somebody that not
an entertainer in himself, butI'm looking for ways to give
people something to do in lifeand give them some joy in life.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I guess is what I'm saying, and I've got some
cartoon characters that I'vedeveloped in my mind that I've
always wanted to release and Ijust haven't had the money or
the time to do it because I'vegotten wrapped up in Cornell.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
But I just like to learn more about where his brain
was, because he was a dreamerand I feel like I'm a dreamer
and I feel like he was theultimate dreamer and I would
just like to tap into that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, what's on your bucket list.
Got any big things on yourbucket list and like this is a?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
a huge bucket not a huge bucket list, but a
far-fetched bucket list.
But I've always thought that itwould be amazing to be able to
somehow get up there, go intospace for a little bit and look
back at the earth.
I would love.
What?
Is it SpaceX or something?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
like that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Get in one of those ships and go up.
Go up there.
I mean another kind of a crazyyou know dream or bucket list
dream for me.
I told you my son, max um, is asinger, aspiring singer.
Yeah, absolutely, and I'd lovenothing more than to actually
see him succeed where he was avery successful uh, and and and,
going on tours and I would justbe the road, I would be the
(26:54):
roadie for him.
I would set up the stages andwork behind the scenes, and just
that, to me, would be anultimate bucket list.
Dream is just to chill.
Being part of the road crew,yeah.
I drive the, the semi orwhatever with the other people
and just be there to see him dohis thing.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Cool, cool.
Well, you've been in.
You know you were in the familybusiness.
You started another business,then you started ACO.
What advice might you give to?
You know, maybe it's somebodystarting a business, maybe it's
just a young person.
What kind of advice would yougive them?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I don't know, there's nothing easy in life, but keep
pushing.
I mean, be persistent.
Perseverance goes a long ways.
Um, I, I feel like I've beenbeat down numerous times and uh,
people have no idea how I'vestayed around as long as I have,
but it's just being persistent,yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, Great advice.
Well, Frank, this has been,this has been a pleasure for me.
Uh, it's a beautiful morninghere in our in our town, and uh,
just to drive around with youand learn a little bit more
about cornhole.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, dan, I do appreciate you picking me up and
uh taking me on this littleroad trip.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I don't usually get to ride around with people
because most of my guests arescattered about.
Let's leave our listeners withif they're interested in
cornhole, or just leave themwith how to find you, how to
find ACO.
If there's a charity you love,you know whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I'd love to get people more interested in
American Cornhole andspecifically me and the ACO.
Our website isAmericanCornholecom, our YouTube
channel is just YouTube forwardslash, american Cornhole, and
you can find us on both of thoseand my name is Frank Gears, and
if anybody's really interested,you can even give me a personal
(28:42):
email, frank, at AmericanCornholecom.
I have no one charity that wespecifically support, but I will
tell you if there's bigcharities out there listening
and stuff like that.
Cornhole is a wonderful way topromote your brand and your
business.
Carson Palmer was one that wedid a couple of big charities
for downtown with the sport ofCornhole for Easter Seals, oh
(29:04):
wow.
But anyway, if anybody'sinterested, you can reach me at
Frank F-R-A-N-K atAmericanCornholecom.
Well, thank you, frank, and ifI have one more piece of advice,
yeah, yeah, of course I alwayshave to end with this yeah, keep
on pitching.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Oh, thank you, Mine is keep on driving.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
There you go baby.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Oh, that was fun.
Thanks, dan.
Oh man, that was fun.
Thank you for tuning in to Danthe Road Trip Guy.
I hope you enjoyed our journeytoday and the stories that were
shared.
If you have any thoughts orquestions or stories of your own
, I'd love to hear from you.
Feel free to reach out to meanytime.
Don't forget to share thispodcast with your friends and
family and help us to spread thejoy of road trips and great
(29:46):
conversations.
Until next time, keep driving,keep exploring and keep having
those amazing conversations.
Safe travels and remember youcan find me on the internet at
dantheroadtripguycom.
Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy.
I'm your host, dan, and eachweek we'll embark on a new
adventure, discovering memoriesand life lessons of our
incredible guests, from everydaytravelers to thrill seekers and
everyone in between.
This podcast is your front rowseat to inspiring stories of
passion, resilience and thepursuit of happiness.
So buckle up and enjoy the ride.
(00:24):
Well, I'm excited for my drivetoday.
It's a beautiful morning herein Cincinnati and I'm actually
in the car.
It's been a while since I'vehad a guest in the car.
My guest today is Frank Gears.
Frank is the founder of AmericanCornhole Organization.
(00:49):
Yep, you heard that right,we're going to talk about
cornhole today.
Favorite pastime game slashsport of many.
Frank spent a number of yearsworking with his dad in the
family business.
He then ventured off andstarted a marketing company and
then, 20 years ago, again formedAmerican Cornhole Organization.
(01:12):
I hope you enjoy this episodeas we head out on our little
short drive this morning.
Welcome to the show, frank.
Well, frank, I thought we mightjust take a drive around the
neighborhood and then venture upto the headquarters of American
Cornhole Organization.
(01:32):
I believe you call that ACO forshort.
We go by ACO, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
The acronym stands for American Cornhole
Organization.
It is funny.
Anytime Dan and I get togetherto talk with a reporter or
somebody like that, I alwayshave to make sure that they
understand that we are theorganization ACO American
Cornhole Organization becausethere are other groups out there
.
I've been around for like 20years but there are other groups
(02:01):
that jumped on board too.
I could not trademark the nameAmerican Cornhole, so there are
other groups that jumped onboard.
I could not trademark the nameAmerican Cornhole, so there are
other groups that came on.
There's American CornholeLeague, american Cornhole
Association, but we'rerecognized as the governing body
and have been around thelongest out of anybody.
I've got a car story maybe.
I don't know.
I'll think about it.
(02:22):
It'll come to me in a secondmaybe epic road trips.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Epic road trips man, I love it.
Okay, cool, and then we'll talkabout Cornhole.
Absolutely, and I'm going toask you for just two or three
minutes because my listeners,you know, maybe some of them
don't even know what Cornhole is.
Okay, give me the history of itin three minutes, can you do
that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, we that yeah we're gonna do that cool.
Then we'll talk about aco andhow you.
What took you down that path.
Okay, firework for your dad fora long time.
I worked for my pops for awhile.
We um, my dad uh had a reallygood business.
I was called f james gears andcompany um and he was a
basically a print brokerfulfillment type of uh service
and I came out of uh school.
I went to xavier university andcame out of school and went
straight into work for dadbecause I'd worked for him as a
(03:08):
kid, growing up and through highschool and college days and it
just parlayed that into wantingto go be with my dad.
I enjoyed being with my dad andstarted that and was with him
for I don't know, maybe 20, notquite 20 years, 15 years,
probably out of school.
And you know, I went to dad oneday and I said, know, maybe 20,
not quite 20 years, 15 years,probably out of school.
(03:30):
And you know, I went to dad oneday and I said, dad, I need to
move on and ended up leaving.
I cried the day.
I told him I had to leave butmoved on and started a marketing
firm called Harris Hawk Okay,with a buddy by the name of
Frank Batchy at the time andFrank and I came together.
I used to run a golf outing.
For like 35 years I did thisfamily golf outing so I've
(03:52):
always been into entertainingpeople and putting on activities
and stuff, and this golf outingthat I put on was called the
Bologna Open.
It was the Gears Bologna Openand I grew it, dan, to the point
that we had over like 100people.
The biggest year I had 100people.
A buddy came in from Boston,some friends came in from the
Dallas market and buddies fromcollege and high school came
(04:15):
back to play.
So those were great days withthe Bologna Open and that's how
I came to know Frank Bacci, andFrank Bacci and I started a
company called Harris Hawk whichwas a marketing company and
that was really a cool littleventure for about two and a half
three years when a year or twointo that business, we ended up
winning an award locally herefor the fastest growing little
(04:37):
company.
But I was always looking forwhile working for that company,
I was always looking for acreative way to market a company
.
Okay, and uh, I came acrossthis game called cornhole and uh
, I looked at it and I said, man, that's a billboard waiting to
happen.
You know logo, the logo, theboard logo, the bags, um, you
(04:58):
know, promote companies like youknow Coca-Cola and Budweiser
and you know Domino's pizza,whatever it is, you know it is.
You know just all sorts ofopportunities to showcase those
brands at either festivals ortrade shows.
Or you know bars, restaurants,you know that type of stuff.
So that's kind of how Iinitially got into this world of
(05:20):
cornhole, and at the time thatI got into cornhole, dan, the
only thing people knew cornholefor was a sex act, a dirty sex
act, and that's about it, butit's it's.
It's crazy, though, to see, youknow, and in the beginning too,
it was really hard for us to,um, you know, sell the concept
of cornhole to people.
I did not invent cornhole.
All I did was make cornholebetter.
(05:41):
Um, is what I did yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And uh, speaking of that, give me, give us the three
minute elevator pitch on thehistory of the.
Is it a game or is it a sport?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
so.
So cornhole.
Cornhole is a we.
It started as a game, and itwas me that said, hey, why can't
this be a sport?
You know, how did basketballbecome a sport?
How did golf become a sport?
You know, somebody just said,hey, let's take this game and
let's put more official rulesand regulations to it and let's
become a governing body and pushthis thing forward to.
(06:12):
And that's what I did.
I took a backyard game that Idid not create and I created it
into a sport.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Any idea?
Where did cornhole, the game,come from?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
That's the number one question that everybody always
asks and there is no set answeron that.
I can just tell you that one ofthe most interesting stories, I
think and there's some validityto this is that it was a game
that was derived originallythrough the Indians, where they
would actually and it was a kidout of Indian Hill, that kind of
(06:44):
did the research paper on thisthing.
But the game was where Indianswould dig a little hole in the
earth and they would fill asatchel with corn or beans or
whatever, sure, and they'd tieit and they would stand back
from that hole and they wouldjust chuck this bag towards this
hole in the ground and that'sliterally basically the concept
(07:05):
of Cornwall.
But where it originated, nobodyreally knows.
Now I will say that there'salso a lot of traces that go
back to a game in Germany.
Okay, and you know, cincinnatihas a lot of heritage for
Germans, sure, our Germanheritage.
It is kind of believed thatthat could, that could be also
the the forefront of it.
Yeah, chicago and cincinnati,uh, were the two places that
(07:30):
really laid claim to reallypushing this thing forward, this
game of cornhole.
Now chicago, you know, 20 plusyears ago, really referred to
this game as bags.
They called it bags.
Okay, uh and in bag, bag-o orsomething like that Bag-O is a
little plastic board game.
That's like a brand.
Yeah, those are a little.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I don't know if cheesy is a good word to use but
they're a little like that's achild's toy, child's toy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
There you go, that's what I'm looking for, but no,
it's.
Chicago battled with bags, webattled with Cornhole.
When I with cornhole, when Istarted in this thing, cornhole
was already known as the namecornhole.
Within three, four millionpeople within this region, or in
Kentucky, cincinnati, ohio,southern Indiana, they all
recognize this, this game, thisbackyard game, as cornhole.
(08:17):
So I always thought you knowwhy do we need to change the
name?
Let's just keep it cornhole.
Tongue-in-cheek it was and I 20years later.
Now people really have come toknow.
I mean, shoot, it's on ESPN.
Well, everywhere you go, there'slike a cornhole for it right,
you can't get away from itanymore, man, I'll tell you in
the day.
It was funny because you know Ilive in a very nice community.
(08:38):
I feel very blessed that I livewhere I live, in Terrace Park
and stuff like that, and I'vegot a lot of good friends in the
area.
But you know my wife in theearly days she cried when I told
her I was going to go startthis.
Here's what I'm going to do.
Yeah, what, what are you doing?
And in the community we live inor I live in Dan it's got
(09:00):
doctors and lawyers and peoplewith jobs that you know,
manufacturing people.
And here I am a guy, that'sjust you know doing a college
game of cornhole and going outand partying with people on a
weekly basis.
So she was like how are yougoing to support a family of
three with this?
And I'm like you've got tobelieve in me.
(09:20):
You've got to believe in me,man, I've got a vision here.
I've got a dream.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I've got a dream, that's cool.
Hey, we'll back up a little bit.
Best I remember, your dad and Iwas friends with your mom and
dad and that's how I met you.
But your dad was kind of a carguy.
Best I remember or liked cars,he drove a Lexus for about
400,000 miles, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Drove that Lexus to the ground.
That was a beauty man.
It was blue.
Yeah, it was probably in theearly days of Lexus.
I don't know how long the brandof Lexus has been around, but
he was an earlier follower ofLexus.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
He was pretty early.
Yeah, what was your first?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
car.
My first car was a Cavalier, aChevy Cavalier.
My parents helped me get it.
It was a little over 16 yearsold when I got it and it was a
fabulous little creature.
Sure it was, but I'll tell you,my most memorable.
Actually I have two memorablecars.
Yeah, let's you know, over mylife I've I've rarely had a
(10:17):
brand new car.
I the next car after myCavalier I got was a diesel
station wagon.
Okay, so that thing man wouldfire up, but I don't know if
you're familiar with diesel cars.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
That was pretty early days of diesel, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
The diesel cars.
And then another car I ended upwith was my father-in-law.
I ended up buying his and I gotit for really cheap.
I got it for like a thousandbucks or something like that,
but it was this.
There was this Cadillac that hehad.
He loved this Cadillac.
It was a boat dude.
This thing was like from tip toend it was probably 18 feet.
(10:53):
It felt like it was ginormousand you would take a turn.
And when you took a turn withthis thing, the front end was
done making the turn while theback end was still coming around
.
And I mean it was just a boat.
And here I am, you knowwhatever 27 years old, married,
just married, and stuff likethat, and I'm this young kid
driving this old man's.
You know Cadillac, but that wasa memorable little car that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I had there too the Cavalier.
Was that automatic a stick, or?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
It was automatic, Automatic, Automatic.
I've not.
I've never.
I've always wanted to drivesticks, but I've never been
efficient at driving a stick andnever had a stick vehicle
myself.
So I got to get one of thoseone of these days.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You need to get one.
So you travel a lot, obviouslynow, but any epic road trips in
your life, either with yourparents or with your own family
or just out on the road yeah,there's the shop.
Hey, that's actually corporateheadquarters, right, corporate
headquarters, right there, buddy.
Corporate headquarters of ACO.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yeah, actually I've gone on a couple of cool trips.
I won't bother telling youabout the one to Florida.
Two of my epic trips came inFlorida.
One was in high school duringspring break with a bunch of
friends that I went down therewith, and the other one to
Florida was with some buddiesfrom college.
I ended up getting down thereand I had to sleep in the trunk
of the car and all I rememberwas kind of holding the trunk
(12:10):
sort of open so I could stillbreathe, and all I remember is
Mosquito, because we found asubdivision that was being
developed and stuff like thatand parked our car back there
because all the hotels werebooked up.
And so I'm back in the trunk ofthis car sleeping and all I
remember was the mosquitoescoming in my ear.
But no, my max most epic, uhroad trip that I can really
think of off the top of my headhere was, um, my son max.
(12:34):
I have three sons, okay, myyoungest son is charlie, my
middle son is max and my oldestson is bailey likes to go by
john these days, yeah, sure, butcall him bailey.
But my middle son, he's been anaspiring singer and stuff like
that and he's kind ofadventuresome.
Sure, he ended up doing a roadtrip with me in the box truck.
Box truck is the truck that forthe aco, that carries all the
(12:55):
boards and equipment and stuffacross the country.
And you know, I'm on, I'm onroad excursions all the time,
but this one particular trip wehad, our world championships was
going to be taking place out inlas vegas, nevada.
Okay, I had him drive with mein the truck, all the equipment,
to Las Vegas.
But on that road trip westopped by, you know, some
(13:15):
friends in Kansas had just anamazing steak dinner in Kansas,
okay, and then from there wewent to Colorado, ended up
taking the box truck over to aplace called Estes Park.
Oh yeah, it's a beautiful place,absolutely gorgeous place.
He and I climbed the mountains,ended up spending a couple
minutes, you know, looking outat this lake that was tucked up
(13:36):
in top of the mountains.
But then from there we ended upover through Utah, ended up
meeting a friend of mine Iforget the city that we stopped
at in Utah, but it was just areally great trip to Vegas.
Got to Vegas, ran the cornholetournament for the week and then
came back on the southern route, because going to Vegas we went
(13:56):
kind of the northern route.
Coming back from Vegas, we wentthe southern route, went
through Albuquerque.
That's where we spent theevening in Albuquerque.
Then I went to Branson Missouri.
If you ever get to BransonMissouri, that's a really
special place.
Lots of caving in thatcommunity, super golf courses.
But they have a place that, ifyou didn't know where Branson is
(14:17):
, that's near SpringfieldMissouri as well, and out in
that area there's a guy by thename of Johnny Morris.
Johnny Morris owns and operatesBass Pro Shops and Cabela's and
stuff.
He's the originator of all that.
But there's a place called Topof the Rock out there, okay, and
Top of the Rock again, ifanybody's listening to the show,
(14:37):
if you ever get out there, 100%tell you you've got to go there
and check it out.
It is a special place.
But yeah, that was probably oneof my most memorable overall
road trips and it was neat toshare it with one of my sons.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Over all, road trips and it was neat to share it with
one of my sons.
Yeah, that's always fun toshare it with uh, with a, you
know, spouse or or a child, butuh, I don't think I've ever had
anybody tell me about a roadtrip in a box truck.
So that's the first um.
You talked a little bit abouthow you got into uh cornhole and
how this has become.
You know, you're in your 20thyear, I think this is our 20th
season.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Yeah, 20th season.
Talked yes, yeah, 20th season.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Talked about how you got into that.
Take us through how that'sgrown and how it's changed over
the years.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So much and so much behind it over the years.
But you know, one of the thingsis when I first got involved
with Cornhole, nobody reallyknew what it was.
I mean, there was people outthere that played it in their
backyards a little bit and stufflike that.
But more often than not I'mgoing to these trade shows to
introduce this sport tocommunities and things like that
(15:37):
and I had to explain.
Every time I started talkingabout cornhole.
I would have to explain tosomebody how you play the game
and what it is and then they'dask you know, where did the name
cornhole come from?
And really the name cornholecome from and really the name
cornhole came from?
A simple thing it's a board witha hole in it that you have bags
that are filled with corn thatyou throw towards it.
(15:58):
Now the bags are no longerfilled with corn, they're filled
with a resin fill.
One of our early clients wasCarnival Cruise.
I did product for the boats.
That's actually how the gamereally got spread
internationally.
The two biggest factors that Itake away from the game being
spread internationally wasCarnival Cruise kind of getting
it started and the US military,so a lot of people in the
(16:22):
military play Cornhole for funIn the early days, educating
people on what the game was.
Now, as you progress, 20 yearslater, after the ACO invented
the two-sided bag, we inventedthe concept of what is that?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I read that on your website.
I'm like what is a two-sidedbag?
I thought it had two sides.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
So there actually is a really kind of little cool
story behind that Cornhole.
This was in the early, earlydays.
This was probably 18, 19 yearsago.
One of my uncles, my uncleScott.
He had an upholstery company.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
You know what upholstery is right.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, I'm in there, and I found him to be the one to
start sewing my bags initially,so he made my bags for me One
day, in there with Scott, ashe's making a batch of bags for
me that I was getting ready totake to deliver to a client.
While I'm waiting, I'm sittingthere looking at a swatch book
of all these fabrics.
Oh, sure, okay.
And as I'm looking at thisswatch book of all these fabrics
(17:16):
, it just dawned on me I'm likeScott man, because I found a
couple fabrics I like.
One was like this syntheticsuede, and I was like Scott is
there any way that I could taketwo different fabrics and marry
them together to make a bag?
You know, dan, the concept cameto me to create a strategy and
more complexity to the game,because at that point in time,
(17:37):
every bag had been made out ofcanvas Okay, traditional canvas
and every bag was filled with,you know, corn.
Sure, well, for me, thinking ofthis idea of two different
fabrics was each fabric wouldreact differently on the board.
So the idea was to create oneof the fabrics would have more
of a stick, feel Okay, and theother fabric would have more of
(17:58):
a slide, so you'd have a slickand stick or a slide and slip
and slide type of thing.
Yeah, that's how it kind of gotstarted.
It really from here, the restis history.
I did look to you know patentand that at the time and talking
to the attorneys they said youknow, that's a design patent,
you can do it if you want to doit, but it's going to be
(18:18):
relatively easy for somebody toget around that pattern.
Instead of wasting my money andmy energy on it, I just went
forward creating the concept ofthe two-sided bag, which which
now now the industry is filledwith two-sided bags.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Oh, really, yeah, Okay, so it's really basically
become the standard.
Now is it the player's choice.
I'm going to throw with theyeah, so that's funny.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
We actually called it the player's choice.
Oh okay, so it was called theplayer's choice.
So the player had a choice ofthrowing a stick or a slick side
, and the stick side.
The concept with the stick sidewas you would use that to
possibly throw a blocker shot tokeep you from sliding to the
hole.
So, okay, so that was, uh, thatwas a theory with that.
There's a strategy to that.
Yeah, I mean people think aboutit as it's as simple as
(19:01):
throwing the, the um, the baginto the hole.
I'm sure you can.
You can take every sport.
I mean hockey is as simple asputting a puck in the net, you
know, basketball is as simple asshooting the ball into the hoop
.
I mean cornhole is as simple asputting the bag into the hole.
People liken it to shuffleboardand horseshoes and darts and
billiards.
(19:21):
You know kind of along thoselines of sports, of bowling.
The one thing that's differentabout like cornhole than bowling
, for instance, is you can'tplay defense in bowling, it's
just you against the pins upthere.
In cornhole there is strategiesthat you can take by muddying
(19:42):
up the board, using that stickside of the bag to kind of lay
it low, to force the competitorto to go, you know, through your
bag or up over top or cutaround it, you know.
So there is strategies todefense, um, you know, in the
sport of of cornhole.
So it isn't just you know, youagainst the whole type of thing.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah what's a um, what's a tournament weekend like
, because I was looking at thestandings and I'm like, oh my
gosh, there's hundreds of peopleon here.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh yeah, now we've got some big tournaments.
Matter of fact, locally inCincinnati, every September we
run one out in Hamilton, ohio,at a place called the Spooky
Nook.
It's a big sports complex.
Yeah, this past year we had 600plus players come out from like
19 states.
That's a big one.
If any listeners are interested, we will be back there in
(20:27):
September.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, late September.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
What's their date?
This year's is the firstweekend of October.
The first weekend of October.
Perfect, the first weekend ofOctober.
But no, that is great, butwhat's it like on a weekend?
You know these things we doacross the country, dan.
They're called and talkingabout road trips and stuff like
that.
You know, these players of mine.
(20:54):
We have an award for players ofours that's called the road dog
.
Okay, and this past year I had43 majors across the country,
from fresno, california, toduluth, minnesota, to fort
walton, florida, to hamilton,ohio, so they're all over the
country buffalo, new york,atlantic city, so they're all
over the country.
We even went international thispast couple seasons where we've
been running one out in the UK,yeah, and then this coming
season we've actually added onein Canada, one in September and
(21:16):
one in May in a place calledPrince Edward Island.
Oh sure, but I was going totell you about, like, talk about
road trips, and we have anaward that we created called the
Road Dog.
The Road Dog is for anybody thattravels to 13 of our majors in
the course of a season.
These majors are the bigtournaments that take place over
(21:37):
a weekend.
Usually we're doing a welcomebash on a Thursday night, we
play cornhole all Friday and allSaturday, and then everybody
goes home.
We're listening to music, we'reeating food, we're enjoying the
people and the environment andthe competition.
I'm not going to kid you, thecompetition is at the highest of
all levels, but these peoplehave it's like almost a family
(22:00):
reunion when you go to theseevents.
But the road dog is forsomebody that goes to 13 of
these events.
Now I told you how manydifferent cities and the places
that we go for these things.
These people have to take offseveral days of work just to go
to one event, right, sure, andit costs them money for entry,
it costs them money for hotelrooms, it costs them money for
travel expenses and they'redoing this 13 weekends of the
(22:22):
year.
This is a commitment.
It is a commitment man.
And we had a friend of mine, adear friend of mine.
Mike Schaefer Sr passed away.
Prior to him passing away, oneof the coolest things that I did
, I think, in my entire cornholecareer was come up with the
concept that we were going tocreate this award in honor of
him, and the award was calledthe Road Dog.
(22:44):
Okay, yeah, a lot of peoplehave to die before they get
recognized.
I wanted to recognize himbefore he died.
Sure, sure, I actually workedwith Mike told him about this
award that we were doing andwhat it was all about.
When he was in the hospital, Iactually took logos to him and
had him help pick out his logothat was going to be for his
(23:04):
award.
Anyway, he did pass away, butthe good news is is he was alive
for the first season of theRoad Dog, so he got to see the
first nine people that ever wonthis award.
Yeah, all right.
Well, I never thought.
What we do for this Road Dog iswe give away a bourbon barrel
with an etched logo in it andthe person's name right, never
conceived that we would everhave more than maybe 10 of these
(23:27):
people doing this on an annualbasis, because that award cost
us a little bit of money too.
Well, the second year, dude, weended up with 23.
The next year, we ended up with53.
So we're in year four of thisroad dog award.
We have 69 people now that havetraveled this past season to 13
(23:47):
or more events.
Some people have done 20, 21 ofthese things.
It's really kind of a coolthing and a passionate thing,
but again, um well, stop Sorry,oh not a good thing in the
neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yeah, I knew better to do that.
I got so enthralled in yourstory.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I'll probably get pulled over by the Terrace Park
police because as you've noticed, I've stopped and I've counted
to five or six.
You've got to do that everytime.
I'm going to stop at this one.
There's not even one here.
I love it.
That's great, but no Cornwallhas been.
It's been a lot of fun over theyears and again I've calculated
out that I've driven over amillion miles already in my life
(24:29):
just for the growth of thisgame and this sport.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Great man.
That is so cool.
Thanks for sharing all that.
Here's a question for you.
Imagine today you could go on aroad trip with anybody, living
or deceased.
Who would it be?
Where might you go?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
There's a couple different paths.
I could go with that If it'sgoing to be like a and you might
load up that box truck witheverybody right there you go.
If it's going to be somebodythat I want to go really kind of
like partying with or somethinglike that, I probably would
grab somebody that's morecomedic in nature, like a will
ferrell or sure a chris farleyor somebody like that.
Go on a little trip with, Ithink that could be a lot, a lot
(25:08):
of fun.
But if I was going to go on alittle trip with, I think that
could be a lot, a lot of fun.
But if I was going to go withsomebody that I'd like to just
learn more about, tap theirbrain a little bit you know who
they were it probably would beWalt Disney, and the reason I
say that is I don't know a lotabout the man, but what I do
know about is that you know hecreated an amazing brand.
He created something that'sit's entertainment for people.
(25:32):
I started by telling you, uh,early on, that you know I ran a
bologna open for my right here,for my family.
I do this.
You know I feel like I'm anentertainer or somebody that not
an entertainer in himself, butI'm looking for ways to give
people something to do in lifeand give them some joy in life.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I guess is what I'm saying, and I've got some
cartoon characters that I'vedeveloped in my mind that I've
always wanted to release and Ijust haven't had the money or
the time to do it because I'vegotten wrapped up in Cornell.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
But I just like to learn more about where his brain
was, because he was a dreamerand I feel like I'm a dreamer
and I feel like he was theultimate dreamer and I would
just like to tap into that.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, what's on your bucket list.
Got any big things on yourbucket list and like this is a?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
a huge bucket not a huge bucket list, but a
far-fetched bucket list.
But I've always thought that itwould be amazing to be able to
somehow get up there, go intospace for a little bit and look
back at the earth.
I would love.
What?
Is it SpaceX or something?
Speaker 1 (26:31):
like that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Get in one of those ships and go up.
Go up there.
I mean another kind of a crazyyou know dream or bucket list
dream for me.
I told you my son, max um, is asinger, aspiring singer.
Yeah, absolutely, and I'd lovenothing more than to actually
see him succeed where he was avery successful uh, and and and,
going on tours and I would justbe the road, I would be the
(26:54):
roadie for him.
I would set up the stages andwork behind the scenes, and just
that, to me, would be anultimate bucket list.
Dream is just to chill.
Being part of the road crew,yeah.
I drive the, the semi orwhatever with the other people
and just be there to see him dohis thing.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Cool, cool.
Well, you've been in.
You know you were in the familybusiness.
You started another business,then you started ACO.
What advice might you give to?
You know, maybe it's somebodystarting a business, maybe it's
just a young person.
What kind of advice would yougive them?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I don't know, there's nothing easy in life, but keep
pushing.
I mean, be persistent.
Perseverance goes a long ways.
Um, I, I feel like I've beenbeat down numerous times and uh,
people have no idea how I'vestayed around as long as I have,
but it's just being persistent,yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, Great advice.
Well, Frank, this has been,this has been a pleasure for me.
Uh, it's a beautiful morninghere in our in our town, and uh,
just to drive around with youand learn a little bit more
about cornhole.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Well, dan, I do appreciate you picking me up and
uh taking me on this littleroad trip.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I don't usually get to ride around with people
because most of my guests arescattered about.
Let's leave our listeners withif they're interested in
cornhole, or just leave themwith how to find you, how to
find ACO.
If there's a charity you love,you know whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I'd love to get people more interested in
American Cornhole andspecifically me and the ACO.
Our website isAmericanCornholecom, our YouTube
channel is just YouTube forwardslash, american Cornhole, and
you can find us on both of thoseand my name is Frank Gears, and
if anybody's really interested,you can even give me a personal
(28:42):
email, frank, at AmericanCornholecom.
I have no one charity that wespecifically support, but I will
tell you if there's bigcharities out there listening
and stuff like that.
Cornhole is a wonderful way topromote your brand and your
business.
Carson Palmer was one that wedid a couple of big charities
for downtown with the sport ofCornhole for Easter Seals, oh
(29:04):
wow.
But anyway, if anybody'sinterested, you can reach me at
Frank F-R-A-N-K atAmericanCornholecom.
Well, thank you, frank, and ifI have one more piece of advice,
yeah, yeah, of course I alwayshave to end with this yeah, keep
on pitching.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Oh, thank you, Mine is keep on driving.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
There you go baby.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Oh, that was fun.
Thanks, dan.
Oh man, that was fun.
Thank you for tuning in to Danthe Road Trip Guy.
I hope you enjoyed our journeytoday and the stories that were
shared.
If you have any thoughts orquestions or stories of your own
, I'd love to hear from you.
Feel free to reach out to meanytime.
Don't forget to share thispodcast with your friends and
family and help us to spread thejoy of road trips and great
(29:46):
conversations.
Until next time, keep driving,keep exploring and keep having
those amazing conversations.
Safe travels and remember youcan find me on the internet at
dantheroadtripguycom.
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