Dauphin hopes to win tourney, scholarship funds on ESPN
Published 2:15 am Friday, November 30, 2018
- SHS alumnus Logan Dauphin and teammate Michael Orso. Courtesy photo
Straughn High School alumnus and University of Alabama student Logan Dauphin will compete for scholarship money at the 2018 Southern College Cornhole Championship on ESPN, this weekend.
The Southern College Cornhole Championship crowns the best Southeastern Conference college team. The event takes place at the SEC FanFare. In addition to competing in the championship, the student teams will get tickets to the SEC Championship Game, custom jerseys and up to a three-night hotel stay in Atlanta.
“I first learned corn hole at a senior party hosted by my uncle when I graduated high school in 2014,” Dauphin said. “We hosted a corn hole tournament with my other graduating cousins.”
Dauphin knew at that moment that he found a sport that he could get into.
“I would say corn hole would be my best athletic ability,” Dauphin said. “I didn’t play many sports in high school because I worked throughout high school, but I did play travel baseball.”
Dauphin kept playing cornhole throughout his college career, and ended up playing in a qualifying tournament to get him to the 2018 Southern College Cornhole Championship.
“I started playing pretty seriously in college and playing in some tournaments,” Dauphin said. “Then my partner and I played in a qualifying tournament and ended up becoming the number two seed in the competition.”
Dauphin met his cornhole partner, Michael Orso, in college. They are both members of Sigma Tau Gamma social fraternity at the University of Alabama.
The pair will be featured on ESPN on the day of the SEC Championship.
“It is really a once in a lifetime experience to be able to represent Covington County on ESPN,” Dauphin said. “Hopefully we will go out there and win.”
Since Dauphin and Orso are the number two seed, they will be playing for $2,000 in scholarship money, but if they win, it will be split between the other six teams.
Seven teams, two players per team, from the University of Alabama and seven teams from the University of Georgia pre-qualified for this event via an SCCC Qualifier tournament held at their school. The teams from each school have been seeded one through seven and will compete in sudden-death style Cornhole match play just hours before their schools compete in the SEC Football Championship. Scholarship money will be allocated and split on a per player basis.
“In total the team could win up to $10,000, but it would have to be split between 14 people,” Dauphin said. “It will go straight towards my tuition for next semester if we do win any money.”
Dauphin is a senior at the University of Alabama, studying operations management and has already had two internships with Mercedes-Benz and Interfor.
“With my previous internship experiences at Mercedes-Benz & Interfor, I plan to start my career working in supply chain to help companies keep inventory levels maintained in order to produce products,” Dauphin said. “My long term goals would be to become a production manager in a manufacturing environment and possibly someday become a successful entrepreneur.”
Dauphin graduated from Straughn High School in 2014, then attended LBW Community College to earn his associates degree in industrial electronics before transferring to the University of Alabama on a full tuition scholarship.
He is the son of Jesse and Angie Dauphin.
• Friday’s games start at 6 p.m., EST on ESPN 3.
• Saturday’s games starts at 10 a.m., EST on ESPNU.
• Events will be replayed Sunday, at 9 p.m., EST on ESPN 2.