Craig Campbell Raises $180,000 With Fifth Annual Celebrity Cornhole Challenge

Between the Celebrity Cornhole Challenge and the following One Million Strong Benefit, the country star managed to raise more than $180,000 for colorectal cancer efforts.

Craig Campbell Raises $180,000 With Fifth Annual Celebrity Cornhole Challenge
Pictured L-R: (1st row) Jerrod Niemann, Trent Harmon, Mindy and Craig Campbell, Nascar driver Scott Lagasse, Jr.; (2nd row) Michael Ray, Keifer and Shawna Thompson (Thompson Square), Parmalee’s Matt Thomas, Scott Thomas, Barry Knox and Josh McSwain; (3rd row) Winning bidder Glen Templeton, Jackie Lee, Love and Theft’s Stephen Barker Liles and Eric Gunderson and emcee Eddie Garcia ;("The Bobby Bones Show"); Photo Credit: Xpressive Images By Jamie

CMA Fest is not just a time for country stars to put on amazing free shows for their dedicated fans, but also serves as a reunion of sorts for longtime friends, and that sense of comradery was put on full display at Craig Campbell’s 2017 Celebrity Cornhole Challenge.

For the fifth year in a year, many of Campbell’s close pals came out to support his fight against colon cancer including Michael Ray, American Idol winner Trent Harmon and Love and Theft, just to name a few. “It’s an event that I look forward to every year. It’s my mission to raise as much money and raise as much awareness as I possibly can when it comes to colon cancer, when it comes to prevention. So that’s the reason I strive to have this event every year,” Campbell tells Sounds Like Nashville on the red carpet before the game.

While the goal of the day is to raise money for colorectal cancer research and prevention, the mission behind it is a personal one for Campbell. His father sadly passed away from colon cancer at the young age of 36 and he’s since made it his mission to bring attention to the disease and encourage people to get tested, as it could save one’s life. “It’s always been my passion, colon cancer is super preventable, that’s what I want people to know,” he encourages. “I feel like if my dad would’ve known to go get screened, he’d still be here with us.”

While the event offers a light-hearted game of cornhole amongst friends, Campbell’s no slouch when it comes to the competition, winning two out of the five years, citing his victories on and off the course as his favorite memories. “Just being able to write a check to fight CRC, those are my most memorable things,” he says of winning and handing over monetary benefits to Fight Colorectal Cancer. “That’s a great feeling.”

Keifer and Shawna Thompson of Thompson Square made their second appearance at the event after being invited by their longtime friend, Campbell. Like the “Outskirts of Heaven” singer, Shawn’s father passed away from colon cancer, making this event a personal one for them. “To me, it’s all about just letting people know please go get checked because my dad didn’t do that, it was too late. So it’s all about the awareness and we’re just thankful to Craig invited us again this year,” Shawna says, calling the event a “good pairing” with colon cancer awareness. “We’ve experienced what it feels like to lose somebody to what is so terrible and so it’s just the perfect event I think to raise awareness and still have fun.”

Jerrod Niemann echoes Shawna’s sentiments, commending Campbell for adding a humorous spin on such a dense topic, making it easier for people to talk about. “I think it lightens it enough where people aren’t scared to talk about it,” he admits. “It is one of those cancers like many that sneak up on you and just too far gone by the time you get the chance to understand your disease, so I just think it’s important.” Along with supporting his friend, who he calls “one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life,” Niemann says he takes the time to participate in the event, as it teaches him a valuable lesson on the disease. “I’ll tell you the greatest thing besides raising money and awareness for colon cancer is learning a little bit about it ourselves, it just becomes that much more important,” Niemann says.

Craig Campbell did not continue his reign as cornhole champ this year, as Dee Jay Silver came out with the winning title. Between the Celebrity Cornhole Challenge and the following One Million Strong Benefit, the country star managed to raise more than $180,000 for colorectal cancer efforts.