Wasilla athlete aims to make impact at college level

WASILLA — Sports have always been a big part of Cody Pfeifer’s life. The 2010 graduate of Wasilla High School has been active in a variety of team sports since about the second grade.

At Wasilla High, Pfeifer was a multi-sport letterman with the Warriors and participated in four different sports during his senior year.

“Without sports, I don’t know what I’d do with my life, actually,” Pfeifer said recently.

Now Pfeifer has a chance to continue his athletic career. Pfeifer has committed to play basketball for Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., during the upcoming year.

Pfeifer was an all-conference athlete in football and basketball for the Warriors as a senior, and could have realistically pursued either sport at the college level.

Pfeifer said he was considering a pair of schools in Arizona for football and others in basketball. During the recruiting process, former Wasilla High football coach Jim Shetter told Pfeifer about Haskell, a school in Kansas that has designed a curriculum specifically for American Indian and Alaska native students.

Shetter helped Pfeifer throughout the process, and the Wasilla product began to form a relationship with Haskell.

A coaching change within the Haskell men’s basketball program delayed the recruiting of Pfeifer, but after assistant Chad Kills Crow was promoted to head coach, Pfiefer was offered a spot on the team.

Kills Crow said Pfeifer, an athletic wing who stands 6-foot-3, has potential to progress in the NAIA program.

“There are a lot of good things about Cody,” Kills Crow said by phone Saturday.

Pfeifer has shown his athleticism competing in football, basketball, baseball and track as a senior. Pfeifer’s success as a member of his school’s Native Youth Olympics team also impressed Kills Crow.

“That stands out as well,” Kills Crow said.

Kills Crow said it’s hard to gauge Pfeifer’s immediate role within the program, but sees him fitting in at the shooting guard or small forward positions.

“It’s one of those things. Time will tell,” Kills Crow said. “(It depends on) how much work he puts in, what he’s willing to do for us.”

Pfeifer said he’ll be happy to fill any role for Haskell.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Pfeifer said.

In basketball, Pfeifer was named first-team All-Northern Lights Conference and helped the Warriors win an NLC conference championship and finish as the 4A runner-up. In football, Pfeifer was named first-team All-Railbelt Conference at wide receiver.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.