Cornhole tournament to benefit Jones family of Nickerson

Brandon Strawn is helping organize a cornhole tournament to help the Jones family with medical expenses.

By Jared Janzen

BURRTON—Cornhole enthusiasts from Burrton and surrounding areas are banding together to support a family they don’t even know.

Hole Chasers Cornhole is hosting a tournament on Sunday, Aug. 28, to benefit the Jones family of Nickerson. Four members of the family were struck by a car while visiting Louisville, Ky., in early July.

“The daughter had just got accepted into college,” Burrton resident Brandon Strawn said. “They went on a little vacation for the college deal, walking down a main street in a bigger city, and a car jumped the curb and hit them.”

The father, Trey, was killed, while the mother, Amy, and daughter, Ava, were both in critical condition. The younger son experienced minor injuries.

“They’re still out of state right now, but we were wanting to do a fundraiser tournament to help take some relief off their medical bills,” Strawn said.

The cornhole tournament will be at AJ’s Sports Grill in Hutchinson. Bags fly at 4 p.m., so Strawn encouraged people to start showing up at 2:30-3 p.m. to sign up and warm up.

He’s already heard from a lot of people interested in coming to the tournament. They’re expecting anywhere from 70-80 teams.

“We’re going to have around 15-20 boards going to make it go a little quicker,” Strawn said.

At this point, they expect to do a double elimination tournament, but if more than 80 teams enter, they may switch to a single elimination. Competitors should bring their own teammate.

Entry is $40 per team. Strawn said it’s helpful if people preregister on the Scoreholio app by searching for Jones Family Fundraiser.

“This will be more of a casual tournament,” Strawn said. “It’s going to be a lot of backyard players that are just there for the family.”

Both members of the winning team will receive a 28-inch Blackstone grill with an air fryer combo. Second and third places will win prizes, too, but Strawn didn’t know what those would be yet. They’re also collecting raffle items, including two nice sets of cornhole boards and a number of sets of bags.

Strawn doesn’t know the Jones family personally, but he still wanted to help.

“We do fundraisers for a lot of families around here,” he said. “Cornhole has a great community around it and they all get involved in these fundraisers.”

He figured any amount they could manage to raise will help the family out. Tournament prizes are being donated so there won’t be a cash payout, meaning 100 percent of the entry fees and raffle proceeds will go to the Jones family.

“The dad was the coach of the high school basketball team, so he’s known by a lot of people in that area around Nickerson,” Strawn said. “They’ve had tremendous support from not just the towns but the whole state and other states are getting involved.”

For more information, contact AJ’s Sports Grill at 620-259-8771 or Hole Chasers Cornhole on Facebook.

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