Specialized Reporting Story 3: Grizzlies Player and Former ASU Student Works at Stick Boy to Focus on Football
Cody Sterrett only has a little time left before he knows what it feels like to play a professional arena football game for the High Country Grizzlies. Until then, he will have to keep looking across the street at the Holmes Center, where the Grizzlies will play their home games, from Stick Boy Bread Company, where he works.
Sterrett said he has been crew member at Stick Boy since October, around the time he made the Grizzlies roster at the first tryout.
A senior at Appalachian State University this past fall, Sterrett said he is taking this semester off to devote his time to working at Stick Boy and playing for the Grizzlies.
Sterrett said he found out about the Grizzlies at the High Country Beer Fest where the team had a tent set up passing out merchandise.
“I went to the first open tryout and made it that first day,” Sterrett said. “It’s been going on ever since then, it’s been great.”
“Everybody here is great,” Sterrett said. “All the customers are awesome. It’s an awesome environment. I’m around baked goods all day, so it’s great. I love it here.”
Sterrett said his duties include dealing with customers and making their drinks or getting their food. He said he also does wholesale shifts where he will package and deliver bread to the restaurants in the community that use Stick Boy bread.
“Cody is a great guy,” Kop said. “He works hard, he’s got a great attitude and he doesn’t complain about anything.”
Kop said Sterrett is willing to do whatever the company needs him to do.
“Often times, with that position, we ask him to run errands or do some other things that we wouldn’t normally have time to do,” Kop said. “He’s very accommodating to what we need, and he does a good job.”
Kop said Sterrett doesn’t bring up the Grizzlies too much, but when someone else brings the team up, Sterrett gets excited.
William Adams, a shift leader at Stick Boy, said working with Sterrett feels more like hanging out than work.
“I can definitely tell he’s excited, but he’s humble,” Adams said. “We definitely know we’ll start hearing a lot more about it once the season starts up, and I’ll definitely be going to some games to see him play.”
Sterrett was a member of the track team at Appalachian State and said football will be a lot different, but he thinks the transition will go well.
“It’s just figuring out how I can transition those abilities that I had and move it over to the football game,” Sterrett said. “It’s not a straight line 100, but it’s all running and jumping and being an athlete, so it’ll transition over pretty good I think.”
Since making the team, Sterrett said he can’t wait to be playing in The Holmes Center.
“I live right at the top of Hill Street, so I walk by it every day,” Sterrett said. “I see it every day. It’s awesome. I can’t wait to be in there.”
Sterrett said, since joining the Grizzlies, he has realized how important it is to be a part of the community. He said the team did multiple holiday parades around the community, including ones in Ashe County, Blowing Rock and Boone. The team has also signed autographs at the mall to get the word out.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Sterrett said. “It’s football in the spring in Boone. There is no better thing to have here, so it’s going to be real exciting.”