St. Louis Rams Running Back Has Part-Time Job at Jimmy John’s
By Josh Hill
Every kid dreams of one day becoming famous and never having to work at a boring minimum-wage job ever again. Terrence Ganaway, a running back for the St. Louis Rams, might have had that dream but even though he’s now playing in the NFL he’s still stuck in that boring minimum wage job making sandwiches for hungry customers. When he’s not trying to get carries in the regular season for the Rams, Ganaway is earning his paychecks in the offseason working at Jimmy John’s.
“My No. 1 job is being an NFL player,” Ganaway told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “So don’t get it confused as to me working at Jimmy John’s has me lazy. … I know what I have to do. I know how to get in shape and I know what it takes to perform at a high level. Really, Jimmy John’s is just to keep me out of trouble in all the down time we have in the offseason.”
As absurd as the whole situation may seem, Ganaway is displaying a rare form of humbleness that eludes many professional athletes, even ones that are still on one of the lower rungs of NFL society like Ganway is. However, the Rams have got to be thrilled that Ganaway is spending his offseason working at Jimmy John’s as opposed to getting into trouble, which seems to be the norm for some players around the league.
Ganaway says that once he takes off his Rams uniform and puts on the Jimmy John’s uniform, he blends right in with the rest of his crew.
“You know, I’m in uniform,” Ganaway said. “I’ve got an apron on, with a visor. I’ve got gloves. So unless I recognize somebody and I say, ‘Hey, what’s up man?’ They look at me kind of weird and say: ‘Why are you working at Jimmy John’s?'”
Usually players do this sort of thing as a one day charity appearance, but Ganway takes his job at Jimmy John’s as seriously as he does his NFL job. It’s also not the first time a football player has balanced sports and work as virtually every high school football player in the world has a part-time job and even some college players do as well.
Ganaway is proving that not everyone in the NFL takes the money they get for granted. He’s not making a multi-million salary yet, but Ganaway still managed to score a payday of $390,000 in 2012 with the Rams. Still, Ganaway is displaying a type of attitude that is rare in the NFL and while he didn’t quite make a name for himself on the field this past season, he’s certainly getting some recognition now.
Who knew that the only way to get recognized as an NFL player was to take a side job making sandwiches.