Saturday, January 9th 2010

By day he's an account executive for CBS Outdoor, a billboard sales company. By night, he gives speeches to high school athletes, advising them on how to properly manage their college futures.

And once a month, former Giant Roman Oben runs a political meeting in Kinnelon, N.J., where he is the chair of the town's Democratic party. Plus on weekends he does local radio and TV broadcasts.

Oben, 37, retired from the NFL just three years ago, but the former offensive lineman hasn't slowed down; and he doesn't miss the gridiron one bit.

"I always said the NFL is not really a career," says Oben. "It was gonna prepare me for what I call the 'real world.'"

The Giants' third-round pick in 1996, Oben played with four teams during a 12-year pro career. He was a sometime starter for four seasons with Big Blue, suited up for the Browns for two years, won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2002, and closed his career with the Chargers.

But you'll never see the 6-4, 300-pounder flashing his Super Bowl bling, and he hardly reminisces about the game.

"There's a favorite quote of mine," he says, waxing poetic. "Let our past be a point of reference, not a point of residence."

Oben developed that approach long before arriving in the NFL. When he wasgrowing up in Washington, D.C., his mother could afford few luxuries, but she did dispense plenty of discipline, not tolerating any slang, and stressing academic excellence. Oben carried that mentality to Louisville, where he graduated in three-and-a-half years. He spent his first three offseasons at Fairleigh Dickinson, earning a master's in public administration, and he interned for Congressmen Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). "I met so many people playing," he says. "I just tried to leverage those relationships to see if there were any synergies."

The plan worked. After retiring in 2007, he moved to New Jersey and joined Corporate Playbook, a company that helps student-athletes find jobs after their sports careers are over. Then in 2007, he started working with the Democratic party in Kinnelon, campaigning for Barack Obama.

What started simply, with Oben putting up posters around town, ended with a position as the town's Democratic chair.

"The old chair left, and they had some meetings and nominated me to serve out his term," Oben says. "I wasn't looking for it, but I guess my best ability is availability."

Oben doesn't have much availability left. Last summer, he started doing part-time work for the National Collegiate Scouting Association, a group that aims to help high school athletes get through the college recruiting process. Oben speaks at local high schools a few nights a week.

And on Saturday at noon, Oben will be speaking at the News' All-City Football luncheon at the 40/40 Club.

So packed is his schedule that when he started at CBS Outdoor last week, he pared back his duties at Corporate Playbook.

The rest of his time is spent with his wife, Linda, and their two children."That football buzz is still in your body," Oben says. "But I'm in the second phase of my life right now."

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