Q&A: Carolina Panthers RB Cameron Artis-Payne
Ten questions about life off the field with Carolina Panthers RB Cameron Artis-Payne:
Q. For people who haven’t been to northcentral Pa., how would you describe your hometown of Harrisburg?
A. Harrisburg’s a cool place. It’s a small town, but it’s got a big-city feel to it. It kind of reminds me of Charlotte, actually.
Q. Pretty good football, right?
A. Yeah, we’ve got a few players come out of there. We’ve got some good football. A lot of people don’t realize Pennsylvania has a lot of Hall of Famers. We get short-changed on that.
Q. And haven’t a lot of running backs come from your area?
A. Shady (LeSean McCoy), Ricky Watters, Tony Dorsett’s from (western) Pennsylvania. So we’ve got a lot of guys from there.
Q. You had an interesting football odyssey. Weren’t you moving furniture at one point?
A. I was making furniture at one point. It wasn’t the career choice I wanted. I don’t think it was for me, honestly. It was cool, though. I had to support myself some kind of way.
Q. Were you in the factory hammering nails?
A. Yeah, actually in the factory getting stuff off the assembly line, putting it together, boxing it. All that.
Q. Did you get to take home a couch at the end of your time there?
A. No, I never got to take home anything. I made it for everybody. It might be in your house right now.
Q. How much did you make an hour?
A. Like $9. It wasn’t bad. I was excited about it at the time.
Q. Did you work a graveyard shift?
A. Yeah, nighttime. I worked overnight. I think it was like (midnight) ‘til 8.
Q. What were your days like?
A. I’d get off work at 8 o’clock. I’d go home, get something to eat. I’d take a nap until like 4, then I’d go work out.
Q. Growing up in Pennsylvania, did you ever eat Amish food?
A. A little bit. The Amish are right there. We had like a Saturday market or whatever, and they always (had a stand).
This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Q&A: Carolina Panthers RB Cameron Artis-Payne."