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Monroe-Woodbury student interviews Roman Oben
On Friday MSG Varsity gave young journalists the opportunity to interview former NFL player Roman Oben. MSG Varsity is a channel dedicated to covering high school events such as football, for which Monroe-Woodbury is known.
Roman Oben played 12 years in the NFL, four of which were with the New York Giants. He won the Super Bowl in 2002 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive tackle. When asked about the Super Bowl victory in 2002, he was very humble and credited his success to his teammates as well as his coach, Jon Gruden.
“Gruden came in and fixed up the offensive scheme,” said Oben.
In addition, Oben felt that everyone he played with on that Super Bowl team were “Doctors and PhD’s at their positions.”
Following his NFL career, Oben continued his passion for the sport by becoming a broadcaster for MSG Varsity.
Oben’s other passion is giving back, which he does through “The Roman Oben Foundation.” The foundation focuses its efforts in two places—here in the United States and Oben’s home of Cameroon, West Africa.
In the U.S., the foundation focuses on literacy by holding reading challenges where the winners get to go to ESPN Zone and hang out with the former NFL star. In Cameroon, the efforts are much more basic.
“Kids in third world countries such as Cameroon don’t have basic necessities, so our foundation send things such as jerseys and food,” said Oben.
Of all the questions asked, Roman seemed the most animated and involved when discussing this foundation. It was a pleasure to see a former NFL player so excited about giving back.
