This story originally appeared in the Feb. 24 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
Bret Guy’s eyes were locked in on the ground. His hands juggled the beanbag up and down, feeling the individual resin pellets through the fabric with his fingertips. He took three steps forward and adjusted his footing.
Similar to a major league hitter’s routine before stepping into the batter’s box, Bret’s mannerisms resembled that of a seasoned veteran with experience operating in the clutch.
“It was nothing but pure adrenaline at that point,” Bret said.
Anxiously watching in the crowd is Matt Guy, widely considered to be the greatest cornhole player of all time. Some people refer to him as the GOAT of the sport, a colloquialism meaning ‘greatest of all-time.’ For Bret, the GOAT goes by another name: Dad.
“This slide shot is for the win for Bret Guy and Erick Davis to win their second straight Pro Shootout Championship in doubles,” proclaimed the CBS Sports play-by-play broadcaster.
Bret’s gaze shifted from the ground to the opposite board, locking his eyes onto the target. His right arm swayed backward, then forward, launching the beanbag into the air.
An $100,000 purse was on the line. At the time, it was the largest prize in the history of cornhole. Bret said he believes a championship cornhole purse could reach up to $1 million in the future.
Days earlier, Bret and Matt boarded a plane from CVG to Los Angeles after the completion of their work week. They both work for Stigler Supply Company, a custodial supply company in Cincinnati. Matt works as a sales representative while Bret is his assistant. Both are residents of Alexandria.
Like Babe Ruth in the Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, Bret Guy called his shot.
The bean bag was on its way, but Bret knew his shot was going in.
He busted out a premature “let’s go” as the beanbag hit the board, sliding over the Johnsonville Brats logo and disappearing into the hole.
He immediately shed his stoic competitive persona, getting louder in his celebration. Several aggressive first pumps were thrown, like Tiger Woods winning the 2005 Masters.
For Matt, watching his son win was a full-circle moment. His own father, Art Guy, was a horseshoes enthusiast.
“I was crying like a baby,” he confessed.
He told LINK nky that he traveled around the Midwest with his father for 27 years.
“It was me and my Dad, and we just traveled basically around the Midwest pitching in horseshoe tournaments,” he said. “I got like sixth in the world, so I was pretty good at horseshoe pitching at the time.”
It was 1995 when Matt first discovered cornhole at a party. He took to the game instantly, and his muscle memory from years of pitching horseshoes made for a seamless transition.
In 2000, Matt was driving a bread route for Butternut in Cincinnati when he passed by the Western Hills Sports Mall. He noticed a sign that piqued his interest. Curious, he went in and picked up a flier advertising a cornhole tournament.
Matt contacted his brother to be his partner. That weekend, they won two matches, but also lost two. Although his first tournament finish wasn’t as illustrious as the ones that would follow, he was hooked.
“I started looking for tournaments after that, and sure enough, I started finding them,” Matt said. “Before you know it, I was just running around Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Cleveland winning money at tournaments.”
In the early 2000s, the sport of cornhole was more rudimentary.
There was little institutional infrastructure, and the sport lacked a strong governing body. Tournaments were arranged by individuals or small groups of people. The prize money was often small, with first place purses topping out at $200 to $300, according to Matt.
In many ways, Matt is a pioneer within the sport. He was able to watch his professional career blossom alongside the American Cornhole Organization. Founded in 2005 and based in Milford, Ohio, the ACO is one of the two largest professional cornhole leagues in the United States.
Bret, too, can lay claim to the pioneer moniker. Both Matt and Bret participated in the first ACO Cornhole World Championship, which in Bret’s eyes, makes them “the last OGs of cornhole.”
While Bret may refer to them as OGs, they also share another title: kings. More specifically, Kings of Cornhole.
In 2006, King of Cornhole founder Matthew Grey and his business partner Doug Hopkins created the “King of Cornhole” television show. The show was inspired by the “King of TV Bowling” which aired from 1964 to 2009. Both Gray and Hopkins partnered with the ACO to create the first-ever cornhole show in television history.
Matt went on to win the first two installments of the television series, cementing him as an early face of the sport. The world title winner of the ACO is also referred to as ‘”The King of Cornhole.”
So what makes Matt the GOAT? For starters, Matt won five straight ACO World Championships from 2006 to 2010. After a dry spell, Matt went on to reclaim the ACO world title three more times in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
Bret has his own ACO World Championship title, taking home the hardware in 2014 in front of a friendly home crowd at Turfway Park in Florence. That year, the ACO World Championships were broadcast on ESPN. It was also featured on the network’s Wider World of Sports, hosted by former SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne.
Mayne referred to Bret as “Heir to the Cornhole Throne.” After he secured the championship, Bret told Mayne he was going to celebrate his victory by eating at the Florence Red Lobster.
The duo has since departed the ACO. Both Matt and Bret now compete in the American Cornhole League which was founded in 2015.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ESPN aired the ACL for six straight weeks in order to fill timeslot vacancies caused by the in-season suspension of professional sports leagues like the NBA and MLB. It was this run on ESPN that helped the ACL grow feverishly, setting the organization up with a broadcasting rights deal with CBS Sports. The league is seen as a direct competitor to the ACO.
Besides competing on television, Matt’s and Bret’s professional cornhole careers have opened them up to opportunities they could have never expected. Cornhole allowed Matt to cross paths with former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Doug Flutie.
The ACL puts on an event called Superhole which pits pairs of celebrities and professional cornholers against each other in a tournament. Matt was paired with Flutie.
“I got a call saying, ‘Hey, so apparently Doug’s really competitive and he doesn’t really play cornhole that much so he wants to know if you’ll fly down to Florida and train him before the tournament,” said Matt.
It was an easy ‘yes’ for Matt who was able to coach Flutie in the days leading up to the tournament. For a beginner like Flutie, having the GOAT teach you how to play is a special way to learn the game.
Matt and Flutie went on to win back-to-back tournaments in 2021 and 2022, forging a formidable duo in the process.
During the pandemic, Matt realized he could use his skills to reach different audiences, and used cornhole to become a content creator.
“When COVID started, I’d come home and watch TV or sit around and do nothing. After I got bored, I decided I was going to go throw. I had nothing else to do,” Matt said. “I noticed some guys started doing some trick shots on Facebook. I saw it and thought, ‘I can do that too.'”
He created a TikTok page where he posts trick shots, vlogs and clips from tournaments. His most viewed TikTok, amassing 1.3 million views, is of Matt sinking four beanbags in one throw.
For all their competitive accomplishments, celebrity encounters, social media engagement and television appearances, one thing remains completely apparent when speaking with Matt and Bret: they are two regular guys who just so happen to be exceptional cornhole players.
“I’m a normal dude,” Matt said. “I’m just really good at cornhole.”
They both work ordinary day jobs, enjoy spending time with friends and family, and drinking a beer or two, but on the weekends, they assume their roles as professional athletes.
When Matt wants to train, he heads to his father Art’s barn to train in privacy. At his home, Matt’s wife Beth allowed him to install a 40 foot deck with two regulation length cornhole boards.
Bret practices one day a week operating primarily off muscle memory. Although he did admit he may have to start practicing more, as the next generation of younger players are highly talented.
“People are just so good nowadays that I should practice more,” Bret said. “There are people that just do cornhole for a living, and they do nothing but throw.”
Bret’s son could be one of those next generation players. The six-year old is already throwing beanbags with his father and grandfather.
“My son shows interest in it,” Bret said. “When we get out and play outside, he’ll get out and play with us every now and then. “
If Bret’s son chooses to pursue the path of professional cornhole, it will be the family’s fourth generation of horseshoe or beanbag throwers. In many ways, the Guy’s are the foremost family in cornhole, similar to the Manning’s in football or the Williams’ in tennis.
So who is actually better at cornhole? Matt or Bret?
In a 2022 video posted on the ACL’s official YouTube page, Bret said he looks at Matt as a father and role model.
“I don’t look at him as the GOAT,” said Bret. “He’s Matt Guy. To everybody else, he’s the GOAT. To me, he’s just my Dad. All the pressure that you think would happen when you’re the son of the GOAT and all that, I don’t feel none of it. I’ve been doing this game way too long to feel that type of pressure.”
Although when asked, Bret conceded that the GOAT might have the edge. Matt humbly offered more context.
“I mean, (Bret’s) got days where he’s just not going to be beat. I’m consistent. I don’t always win, but I’m always there. That’s what makes me the GOAT.”
