LINN — When Brendon Hostetler of Linn walked away from Busy Bean Café in 2023, he wasn’t walking away from hard work. He was walking toward a dream, which came true when he earned his American Cornhole Organization professional card at the ACO World Championships in Owensboro, Ky., the week of July 20, capping a five-year pursuit that tested not only his skill but his perseverance.

“It’s still kind of surreal,” said Hostetler, whose tournament finish propelled him to 49th in the world. “The biggest celebration was getting the pro card. That was the goal.”

At the time, he and then-wife Brooke Hostetler made the difficult decision to step away from operating Busy Bean and Deutsches Heim, believing it was time to pursue different paths. For Brendon, that path centered on a sport many people still associated with backyard barbecues and tailgate parties, but one that had become increasingly competitive across the country. “I found my niche with it, and my goal is to go pro,” he said at the time.

Hostetler’s road to becoming a professional player was anything but linear.

After Busy Bean closed, he transitioned from managing a business to working for Rosebud Tractor (RTE) in Linn, a move he describes as one of the best decisions he could have made. “They treat me very well,” he said. “They’re super good about my schedule and letting me have time off when I need it.”

The flexibility allowed him to travel to national tournaments while maintaining a full-time career, but life soon presented another obstacle.

Near the end of 2024, Hostetler and his wife decided to separate. “It was very life-changing,” he said. “I really just kind of quit playing in 2024. I didn’t pursue going pro at all that year. I didn’t go to Worlds. I didn’t even try.”

For nearly a year, competitive cornhole took a back seat.

When the 2025-26 ACL season began, Hostetler wasn’t even sure whether he still possessed the ability to compete at the highest level.

“I hadn’t been playing a lot,” he said. “I didn’t really pursue sponsors. I didn’t really think I was going to push very hard because I didn’t know if I was even good anymore.”

It didn’t take long to rediscover his confidence.

Supported by Fly Cornhole, a St. Louis-based bag company that stood by him throughout the uncertainty, Hostetler found his rhythm again.

“I figured out pretty quick I hadn’t really lost a whole lot of my game,” he said.

By the end of the regular season, he ranked 206th in the world. Though respectable, Hostetler was nowhere near high enough to automatically qualify as a professional.

THE HARDEST ROAD

Most aspiring professionals accumulate enough points through multiple national tournaments to earn one of the ACL’s 96 automatic professional positions.

Hostetler had to take a far more difficult path: the World Championships, which began with 742 competitors; only 272 would survive the opening qualifier.

Hostetler advanced, although he admitted it wasn’t his best day. “I squeaked it,” he said, earning the right to compete among the best 272 players in the world.

The next stage became even more daunting because advancement to the following round had very little room for error in the double-elimination format. “I needed to go 3-0 to move on, but that didn’t happen,” said Hostetler.

After losing his opening match in the main bracket, Hostetler knew that every remaining match became win or go home. “I had to win four straight on the loser’s side,” he said.

The challenge became even steeper because each opponent was already an established professional.

“I honestly thought this was the least likely of the five years I’d been chasing it,” Hostetler said. “I looked at the bracket and thought I had set myself up for failure.”

Instead, he kept winning. One match at a time, then another, until only one obstacle remained between him and the dream he had pursued since 2020.

Kim Jackson, ranked No. 2 among women worldwide and among the top 10 players overall.

Hostetler understood exactly what that meant. “Oh no,” he remembered thinking when he saw the pairing.

Fifteen rounds later, Hostetler prevailed, 21-11.

He put himself in the best position to win, and watched as Jackson tossed her final bag, which stayed on the board.

That moment is forever burned into his memory. It wasn’t just a big win against one of the best throwers anywhere in the world; it put him in the bracket of 64, and it meant he had earned his pro card. “I turned around to Rachael and just looked at her and said, ‘Five years,’ and then I lost it,” he said of his girlfriend, Rachael Anderson, who lives in O’Fallon. “I cried for a while. I’m not ashamed to admit that.”

After years of sacrifice, personal struggles, doubts, business changes, and many miles on the road, Hostetler said everything collided in a single emotional moment.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d get there this year,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I just kept pushing myself.”

GRACE IN DEFEAT

Hostetler’s victory became memorable for another reason.

Jackson entered the tournament with legitimate aspirations of competing for a world championship. Instead, her run ended with Hostetler earning the victory that secured his professional card.

Hostetler, Anderson and several friends embraced as years of determination came to a head. “It meant so much to me,” Hostetler said. “It really did.

“I think Kim turned around expecting to congratulate somebody who had just won a match,” Hostetler added. “Instead, everybody around us was crying.”

Rather than dwelling on her own disappointment, she turned her attention to the emotion unfolding in front of her with the following post: “Sometimes in life things don’t happen the way you want, but they happen the way they are supposed to!! Today was one of those days....... Singles World Championships...... I lost the game to make the Top 64 bracket, and normally I would be devastated, BUT today, my moment of disappointment turned into one of the biggest moments of my opponent’s life!! It was an amazing moment to witness..... he has been chasing ACO Pro Status for 5 years, and by winning that game, it sealed the deal for him!! Watching him hug his supporters and tears flowing all around, I couldn’t help but get emotional! Even more when he told me he looked up to me! I can’t even explain how that felt hearing him say that!! Still blows my mind when I really think about how far I have come in this game!! I loved seeing how much it meant to him because I know how much it meant to me when I made Pro the first time!!! I recognized the hard work that led up to that moment!!! So I take this moment to say a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Brendon Hostetler; you are officially an ACO PRO!!!!”

Her words left a lasting impression on Hostetler, who said they reflected one of the qualities that has drawn him so deeply into competitive cornhole.

“The community is family,” he said.

PLAYING THROUGH GRIEF

As emotional as earning the pro card proved to be, another story quietly unfolded behind the scenes.

Just one day before Hostetler’s defining tournament, longtime friend Jamie Heard of Jefferson City passed away after a battle with cancer. The timing was devastating because Heard was more than another player.

“Jamie actually posted about it on Facebook and got me into playing,” Hostetler recalled. “Anytime something big happened, he’d message you. He’d support you. He was just a great dude.”

Hostetler learned of Heard’s passing on Friday. The round that changed his life happened the next day.

“I wish I could have texted him,” Hostetler said quietly. “I wish I could have shared it with him.”

Instead, he and nearly a dozen teammates carried Heard’s memory onto the courts.

“We all kind of took that and said, ‘We’re going to play the game for Jamie,’” said Hostetler, who believes the emotions surrounding Heard’s death became part of the weekend’s remarkable journey. “It’s hard not to believe there was a little bit of a higher power behind it,” he said.

The impact Heard made stretched far beyond Hostetler.

“He impacted so many people in the cornhole community,” he said. “It is crazy how much of an impact he had.”

That became evident almost immediately as players organized multiple fundraisers and prepared to attend Heard’s funeral wearing their cornhole jerseys at the request of his family.

MORE THAN A PRO CARD

The emotional celebration eventually gave way to more competition. He admitted the emotional high made it difficult to immediately refocus.

“That adrenaline was so insane,” he said. “By the time that final 64 started, my head wasn’t locked in like it should have been.”

Even so, Hostetler continued to compete well before eventually falling 21-17 to another accomplished professional, which tied him for 49th in the world.

For most athletes, a top-50 finish on the world stage would be the headline. For Hostetler, it almost became secondary. “The goal was getting the pro card,” he said.

Looking back, Hostetler smiles when he remembers where everything started.

A few discouraging nights in a Jefferson City league nearly convinced him that competitive cornhole simply wasn’t for him.

Instead, he stayed, practiced, traveled, and learned.

In 2023, after committing himself to cornhole, Hostetler went to Germany to compete in an international tournament and made a great run in Topeka, Kan., but couldn’t pull it all together.

Hostetler doesn’t practice in the traditional sense. Instead, he plays in area tournaments to keep his skills honed.

“I don’t even own cornhole boards, so playing in tournaments is much better,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do by yourself.”

He’s also keeping up with changes. “The game keeps evolving,” said Hostetler. “If I had played in 2023 the way I play now, it would have been different.”

Failure to adapt to strategic changes provides the opposite outcome. “You have to stay up on the way everyone else is playing, or you’ll get left behind.”

Hostetler is pleased to have played doubles this season with Brady Fox, 18, who achieved status as a junior state champion horseshoes thrower.

“I call him the kid,” Hostetler said with a chuckle. “I’m old enough to be his dad, but he’s great.”

Hostetler said Fox is an outstanding cornhole thrower who just missed obtaining his singles pro card. “Brady found cornhole and decided to start playing that instead,” he said. “I watched him play and saw he was level-headed and focused. He didn’t get upset when he lost. Brady is a good kid who just wants to improve, and I’m glad we were able to play together in doubles tournaments.”

Many cornhole players started in washers or horseshoes, but Hostetler did not compete in those throwing variations.

“I went straight to cornhole, and that’s been my focus for five years,” he said.

GROWING THE GAME AT HOME

While competing nationally has become a major part of his life, Hostetler remains committed to growing cornhole locally.

Last month, he ran an expanded cornhole tournament at the Linn Lions Osage County Fair, attracting top-level competitors while also creating a recreational division for casual players.

Rather than intimidating newcomers, Hostetler wants local families to experience the same welcoming environment that first drew him into the sport. “We’re not going to make casual players play the pros,” he said. “We want everybody to have a chance.”

At the fair in June, the cornhole tournament was held in the barn due to inclement weather while the inaugural “Wingin’ It” competition was held next door in the main show ring. One of those cooking teams also competed in the cornhole tournament, and having the events side by side made it a great opportunity that drew about 300 people to the fair on a Saturday afternoon.

The tournament attracted elite talent, including current and former professionals, but Hostetler hopes future events continue expanding opportunities for players of every skill level. “I don’t know if we didn’t make it clear that we’d have two divisions at the fair, but I was hoping for more local teams,” he said. “We’re going to try to keep it going, if the Lions Club wants to bring it back.”

OPENING NEW DOORS

Earning professional status changes nearly everything.

Instead of fighting through qualifying events, Hostetler now receives automatic entry into ACO professional tournaments for at least the next two seasons.

He explained that his pro card is good for two years, but if he qualifies in a sanctioned event, his pro status is extended one year. “As long as I continue to do well, I will keep my card,” said Hostetler. “Even if I have a bad year in 2026-27, I’ll have another year to qualify.”

Having his pro card also strengthens Hostetler’s ability to attract sponsors while reducing some of the financial burden that accompanies national travel. “The work now is finding good sponsors and getting ready for the pro circuit,” he said.

Hostetler hopes to continue working with Fly Cornhole while building additional partnerships that allow him to compete throughout the country. “The next goal,” he said with a smile, “is to see how high we can finish.”

In the meantime, he plans to continue working at RTE and expressed appreciation for all the support he’s received.

“My friends, my family, my job — everybody has been so supportive,” he said. “I’m very thankful.”