Karen English started playing cornhole seven years ago after seeing a tournament at the former Maloney’s restaurant and wondered if she could play competitively.
She and her husband Greg entered their first tournament at Maloney’s soon after, and she noticed that at each week’s blind draw, competitors would drop their shoulders in an “aw, man” position when they were partnered with her.
After a lot of practice, Karen said she got really good, really fast. She and Greg joined the American Cornhole Organization, a competitive league in its 14th year. Players in the ACO travel and compete for prize money and points, hoping to play in the annual ACO World Champions tournament.
Karen and Greg play in the IKI Tri-State Cornhole League that connects players across southwest Indiana, northwest Kentucky and southeast Illinois. They travel to Evansville to compete and play for points in regional tournaments once a month during cornhole season. They also travel for majors, tournaments in different states where they can play for points and money and can play as many major tournaments as they want.
For the last three years, Karen has been the Kentucky State Cornhole champion, which is decided at the state tournament each June.
In 2019, she won her first major, held at the Owensboro Convention Center. She won two other majors and all of the regional tournaments in the season, which put her tied in overall points for first place in the women’s division heading into the ACO World tournament that was held in Las Vegas July 2-6.
“Over 1,500 cornhole players played in the season,” Karen said. “I was fortunate enough to place high enough in singles that I was given professional status for the singles division at the tournament in Las Vegas.”
Professional status gives Karen prestige, specific jerseys and recognition. She also said it is an “intimidating factor” when playing against a professional.
Karen finished runner-up in the world tournament, being beaten by Paula Stevens of Virginia, the person she was tied with in points heading into the tournament.
“She is a great competitor, and she just played better,” Karen said. “She is the nicest lady, but a fierce competitor. We talked about how I am coming after her [next year].”
Karen finished in second place in the women’s singles and 9th place overall — out of 160 — in world singles, which includes juniors, women and men ages 13-73, she said.
She and her husband did play in the co-ed division but did not do as well as they anticipated.
So, they will practice at their home — specifically inside their home. Yes, the English family has a cornhole area inside their house. English is a homebuilder and she figured out that if she cut the foyer wall and raised the ceiling, they would have just enough room to put up some boards and play.
“We play every night,” English said. “Sometimes we play three games, sometimes 8 to 10.”
And they play competitively each night as in the “best out of such and such.” They focus on what is lacking in their games and work on becoming better. And the loser does a menial task decided by the other, like a load of laundry or taking out the trash.
Once a week they play in a local blind draw tournament — mostly for the camaraderie of the players, but definitely as contenders. These are held every Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at TGI Friday’s.
“There are a lot of good players in our area. It’s crazy we don’t do more and have more tournaments,” she said of having to travel to Evansville for regional tournaments.
The cornhole season runs from September to July, but in the summer there are “a slew” of tournaments where players can win money.
“But this time [of the year] is our family time,” she said of her family that has made sacrifices throughout the season.
Karen said her future plans are to win world women’s, something she planned to do this year, be in the Top 40 next year and perform better in the co-ed tournament.
“One of the quotes I heard was ‘to be the man, you have to beat the man,” she said of her desire to become the first Queen of Cornhole at the world championship. “I truly believe the better competitor you play, the better you get.”
