When Jeff Oliver wasn't selected during the 1988 Draft, he chose to take a different route in hopes he'd make it to the NFL.
The first leg of the Boston College offensive lineman's trip was playing with the Arena League's New England Steamrollers for nine games, before signing with the Dallas Cowboys.
Going from watching America's Team on TV while being raised in the upstate New York town of Delhi to joining them was a surreal, albeit a brief, experience.
"I got to go against (Ed) "Too Tall" Jones in practice," Oliver said. ""Too Tall" Jones was kind of a hero growing up as a fifth-grade kid. It was kind of cool to play against him. And I remember the first preseason game, which is as far as I got, sitting in the locker room and having Tom Landry talking at halftime. I just couldn't believe I was in that room. It was pretty neat.
"And Tom Landry, in those days if you got cut, he would bring you in and sit you down and tell you why you got cut. Which I thought was incredibly impressive that he's just that kind of a classy guy."
Even though Oliver was impressed by how the legendary coach showed him the door, he was still, nevertheless, shown the door. He may have been out of the league, but the desire to play in it was not out of him.
Training for nearly a year, Oliver's second chance came at a Jets' 1989 rookie mini-camp, i.e. a tryout. "I guess I did well enough that somebody thought I had value," Oliver said. "My agent Brad Blank called and said, 'Hey, they're interested. You want to go there?' And I said, 'Yeah. Anybody who's interested, I'll go.'"
After going to training camp with the Jets, Oliver was befriended by a veteran while he literally fought for a spot on the team.
"My favorite guy that I've ever met in pro football was Jim Sweeney. He passed a couple years ago, and he was just a really good dude," Oliver said. "He was a tough, tough guy, but had a heart of gold and helped me out in a big way. Kind of allowing me to fit in and supporting what I did because I got in a fight almost every practice. I think he kind of respected that.
"You're expected to take a certain amount of s _ _ t and I just didn't want to do that. I didn't think that was the right way to go. I wasn't raised that way. And just about every practice I'd get in the fight. In a lot of cases, it was you'd get a hold of somebody and they'd get frustrated, take a swing at you, and just think it's going to be over.
"And I thought to myself, 'That's not going to impress anybody if I just walk away from it.' So I got in fights, and I think that's maybe the only reason I probably stuck around, because I think Joe Walton liked guys like that."
The head coach liked Oliver well enough to put him on the developmental squad, and then after five games, promoted him to the active roster.
"When they activated me, it was kind of surreal," Oliver said. "I remember calling one of my older brothers because when I was a kid, I told him I was going to play in the NFL. And he said, 'No, you're not. You're not mean enough.' And so he was the first guy I called, 'I did it, you son of a (gun).'
"In training camp, I specifically remember not being able to sleep because every day I thought I was going to get cut. So I was anxious, and I would pray that all I need is one play. I just want to be able to say that I played in the NFL."
Oliver's prayers were answered in Week 8 when the Jets hosted the San Francisco 49ers, and he got into the game. For one play.
"In preseason games, I played a ton. But that was literally my only play in the NFL," Oliver said. "I was lined up next to Dan Alexander and there was a twist on the defensive front, and we picked it up nicely. A pass was completed down the field and so I took off running. They always thought that if you're running to follow the play, maybe you'll pick up a fumble or something.
"So I sprinted down the field and (49ers linebacker) Bill Romanowski, a teammate of mine at BC, had missed a tackle and was getting back up. He was on one knee and I kind of gave him a forearm to the side of the head. He didn't know it was me until after the game when I mentioned it.
"That was my highlight in the NFL. And there was an article in Sports Illustrated about the World League of American Football, which I went to after the Jets, that said the only play that I played in the NFL, I used to cheap shot my former college teammate."
Other than the slightly off the mark high five he gave Romanowski, what are among Oliver's fondest memories from his time as a Jet?
"There were so many really good guys. Ken O'Brien was one of my favorite human beings I've ever met. Just a really good, down-to-earth, respectful guy. He was the highest-paid guy on the team but we'd go out and shoot 25 cent hoops at Bubbles on Monday nights," Oliver said.
"Meeting some of those characters and developing those relationships over the course of those a little bit less than two years was pretty neat. Everything that I did with them; I appreciated because I really thought I was kind of a guest in a place that I didn't belong.
"Marty Lyons, he treated me like I was just another teammate. All these guys I saw play on TV, Freeman McNeil and Al Toon, they just didn't treat anybody any differently. And I really think that's probably the coolest thing that I took out of it."
After Oliver was done experiencing professional football – the Arena League to the NFL to the World League – a friend, Mike Boyle, who was a strength coach at Boston University and had previously trained him, asked for a favor.
"In NFL Europe, I broke my leg on the very last play of my life and went home and rebuilt an old house, doing stuff like that," Oliver said. "And he called me and said, 'Hey, I really need you. Can you come be my GA?' So at first I was like, 'No, I'm kind of living a good life here.' And he called me back and said, 'You know what, I've done a lot for you. I never asked for anything. I'd appreciate if you come help me out.'
"Now the guy's such a legend internationally that people can't believe that he had to call twice to ask me to be a paid grad student that paid for my education. I got my masters on Friday and started a job at Holy Cross that Monday, and I've been here ever since."
That was in 1996, and Oliver is now the university's Director of Strength and Conditioning.
"When I got here, I was the only guy and so I did everything," Oliver said. "It was kind of a nightmare. But you learn a ton when you have 700 athletes and you have to teach them all from scratch. Because at that point in the mid-'90s, a lot of high school kids hadn't had any formal training. Now everybody comes in and they're pretty experienced.
"But then I got an assistant and for 20 years there were really just two of us. And they kind of changed the whole structure and we brought in more coaches. We have five full-time and we've expanded the program and I'm overseeing the whole thing."
And what does Oliver, who has a wife, Kate, and four children: Peter, Corinne, Claudia, and Keating; enjoy most about his nearly 30-year career at Holy Cross?
"Without question, the relationships you develop with the kids over four years. It's really neat to see how kids grow. And it's really neat having been in one place for so long, a lot of them come back for alumni reunions and we talk," he said.
"It's nice to hear the impact that you've had on other people's lives. And it's not, 'You made me a lot faster. You made me a lot bigger.' That will come up, but it's really the way they've handled their life since they've left Holy Cross. The influence, the discipline, the structure, all the things that we tried to create as habits for these guys, they took into the world with them and have been very successful."
