TCL Signature 3 Recap "One for the Ages"

Back in December of 2019, Texas Cornhole League held their 2nd Signature Event in Tyler, TX. In January they held the Ryder Cup in Denton. That was the last we knew of "normal" with TCL Cornhole. In April, Signature 3 was supposed to be held in Bryan College Station... however Corona hijacked that event! With everything being cancelled and shut down, the TCL brass worked tirelessly trying to secure a venue eventually landing the Cinnamon Creek Ranch Venue and put on a record setting 3rd Signature Event. Of all the Events I've attended in the past 5 years, this one was by far the most challenging. With the growth and popularity of the sport, many more people attended this tournament to the tune of nearly 350 players. Trying to accommodate this many players with space for only 28 sets of boards provided an ultimate challenge. Things got going Friday and even though things were crowded and hectic, games were being played and brackets were moving along! Then a good little Texas sized storm blew in wreaking havoc on the electricity. Lights flickered, power surged and eventually some lights were knocked out completely. With this many people in the building, losing A/C was borderline catastrophic! Just when you thought you had enough deodorant, things started getting a little sticky, including the boards. I know many folks were working up a sweat just watching games, poor Chris Gardner was a hot sweaty mess! With all the issues and challenges, everyone kept playing and eventually all the games that were to be played were played!

By now it was going on around 3 AM and most people had called it a night. Chad and his crew stayed until the power was restored and when everyone started arriving for the Singles Tier Bracket games around 9 AM, the building had cooled back down. This was the sign of what would be a awesome day of cornhole! Usually when I write about the results of a big event I try to list the names of the winners and highlight some memorable performances. This time I just want to write about some things that stood out to me.

It was absolutely awesome seeing everyone after the Corona induced layoff and everyone seemed to be on the same page. It was just good to see some of our friends along with some new faces back on the boards. There were the usual top level players like Josh Groce, A J Sims, Eddie Grinderslev, Brandon Greggor and Grant Upchurch to name a few. These guys are always in the mix with Groce and Sims winning the Open Doubles and Sims winning Open Singles. There was the Cartel with Ernest Herrera and Ernest Monarca finishing 4th in Open Doubles. The surprise of Open Doubles had to be Adam Utz and his fellow Dem Boys partner Blake DeLeon coming in 3rd which is pretty strong considering how stacked this field was. In the Competitive Division Eian Cripps and Jamie Sledge beat Dillon Turpin and Delmar Davis...I know..haven't heard those names before have ya! Jamie has been throwing really well lately and completed her weekend coming in 2nd place in Competitive ingles losing to Ryan Fillingim. Folks, the growth and popularity of cornhole is simply on another level right now.