Friday, January 17, 2025
By David Topolewski - Sports Reporter
Carson Zarak is back in Wahpeton.
The former standout athlete recently took a job as an insurance agent at Nodak Insurance Company’s Wahpeton location.
Zarak was a star athlete in multiple sports, including as a quarterback in football, and is one of four Huskies to win North Dakota Player of the Year in football – Blake Schafer, Ryan Smith and Treyton Mauch are the others.
One of the first goals Zarak set for himself, when he accepted the position, was to take an active role in the school’s athletics.
Which most recently, turned into him hosting a progressive shot challenge – at Saturday’s Border Battle basketball game between Wahpeton and Breckenridge.
Students at Wahpeton Public Schools had the chance to enter the contest for an opportunity to be selected. The chosen contestant will have 30 seconds to complete a layup, free throw, 3-pointer and halfcourt shot consecutively.
“A goal I have is to give back to Wahpeton and the athletic program, whether it’s sponsorships or promotions,” he said. “I have a unique opportunity to do that I believe.”
Wahpeton is a special place for Zarak and he’s happy to be back in the community.
“What better way to connect to people than go back to where you’re from,” Zarak said. “Building relationships with people for the first 18 years of my life and being able to come back to that and have a chance to start my career here – What’s better than that?”
Zarak added that he wants to give back to young athletes and contribute to their experiences the way he was treated – and a conversation with WHS Activities Director David Woods helped put things into perspective for him.
“One of the things (David) Woods told me when we talked was, ‘Think of something when you were playing sports that you didn’t have that you wished you would have,’” Zarak said. “When you think that way it puts things into perspective.”
Wade Gilbertson, now the head football coach at Wahpeton, was an assistant during Zarak’s time under center for the Huskies – and the coach isn’t surprised at his former players willingness to contribute to the community.
“Carson is a great man from a great family – I am very happy to see him return to Wahpeton,” Gilbertson said. “He is goal oriented and driven to make a difference in his community – purple and gold have always run in him and his family.”
Gilbertson recalled a playoff game against Minot during Zarak’s junior season that might just describe best the type of person he is.
“He ripped off a 50-yard run on our first play from scrimmage and rolled his ankle,” Gilbertson said. “He came back into the game after getting heavily tapped, leading us to the win – while playing at probably 50% – it was one of the gutsiest performances I have witnessed.”
Zarak holds the record for most TD passes in a game at Wahpeton, throwing a whopping seven against Turtle Mountain in 2014. He also holds best-marks at the school in total yards in a game (425) and total yards in a season (3,194).
“He was such a nightmare matchup for other teams, and such a dynamic athlete, we would put him at linebacker on passing downs and blitz him off the edge,” Gilbertson said. “That is to say, he was really good at everything we tried to do with him.”
Zarak’s praise of Gilbertson runs parallel and he noted that Gilbertson helped shape him into who he is today.
“(Gilbertson) wanted to see the best out of us, he really tried to pull those leadership traits out of people – that’s something I really took away from playing with him,” Zarak said.
The progressive shot challenge Saturday will be just the beginning of what Zarak hopes is a long line of independently contributing to the community.
“I want to give back now that I’m in the position to do so,” he said.
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