Building blocks

WELLESLEY -- By now, he can tell you every sight and scene on Interstate 89. Curt Oberg knows where to find the cheapest gas, the best eats, the hottest coffee, and he swears it's only a two-hour drive from Boston -- as long as you leave at 5:30 a.m.

But Oberg also knows that a life's dream awaits him near the northern end of the New Hampshire stretch of I-89, a dream to be realized this fall on the fields of Dartmouth College.

It is there where Oberg, a former Dartmouth fullback and team cocaptain, is returning to, as Michael Jordan might say, scratch a lifetime itch. He will serve as a volunteer assistant coach and football operations director at his alma mater. Where it goes from there, he does not know. He does know that at age 49, he cannot remember being this excited about anything for a long, long time.

''I can't wait," he said. ''I'm pursuing my passion, for Dartmouth, for Dartmouth football, for helping young people and teaching young people."

Last November, after 20-plus years with the commercial real estate firm Spaulding and Slye, Oberg, a senior vice president, took a leave of absence. All he knew was that he was close to the big 5-0, and the coaching bug -- he had done a year as a grad assistant at Dartmouth -- had returned big-time in the form of Little League for his 12-year-old son. As his wife Sherri said, ''He'd be up until 2 in the morning going over the lineups. He just loves coaching and always has."

One thing soon led to another. Buddy Teevens, a teammate of Oberg's at Dartmouth, returned for a second stint as head football coach. Oberg approached Teevens about helping out in some capacity -- about ''teaching me how to be a coach."

Said Teevens, ''I gave him some advice and suggested he join us in the spring for practice. He did a great job. Then everything took on a life of its own."

Fortunately for the Obergs, money is no factor in this career-changing decision. Curt Oberg has had a very successful stretch in commercial real estate and Sherri Oberg runs a biotech firm that she started in the family basement. Dollars have given way to desire.

As Curt said, ''I've been successful. I have incredible support at home. I'm lucky to be able to do this. But that's not what's driving this."

Simply, he wants to be a coach. And, as he put it, ''I didn't want to spend the last 15 years of my working life not doing something I didn't want to do."

One of his former teammates, John Carney, understands. Carney and Oberg were graduate assistants at Dartmouth under Joe Yukica for one season, and while Carney coached after that before entering public service -- he's the lieutenant governor in Delaware -- Oberg did not.

''I think both of us wanted to stay in it," said Carney. ''I think for athletes, it's difficult to make that break. Especially in football. It's intoxicating at some level and it's hard for the player to move away from that. I could sense in talking to Curt that he wrestled with that, that he wasn't totally happy or as fulfilled as he'd like to be."

It was last spring that Oberg commuted to Hanover, sleeping on an air mattress on the living room where Teevens's assistants congregated. (''Like a coaches frat," said Oberg.) Occasionally, he'd upgrade to a cot. There were 6 a.m. practices and night film sessions. ''I was just so excited to be there," said Oberg.

The decision to return this fall was firmed up after the spring. He found a two-bedroom condo in nearby Norwich, Vt., where he will live from mid-August until the end of the football season. Sherri Oberg and the two children, Eric and Ali, will become weekend road trippers to Hanover and points in between, a back-to-the-future experience for Sherri, also a Dartmouth alum.

''It's just so great to see him this excited because he's so passionate about coaching and football," she said. ''I've been telling him for years that he ought to do something like this. It's been his dream."

Or his twin dream. Dartmouth football has long played a huge role in Oberg's life, whether it's organizing golf tournaments to raise money for the program or coaxing teammates to attend black-tie Ivy League dinners in New York. Oberg arrived in Hanover as a linebacker from West Hartford, Conn., but was moved to fullback by then-coach Jake Crouthamel. His 1,693 career rushing yards from 1975-77 rank seventh in school history (freshmen were ineligible for varsity play back then) and he had 11 touchdowns, sometimes sprung by a block from tackle Jeff Immelt, who went on to become chairman of the board and CEO of General Electric. Dartmouth was 17-9-1 in Oberg's three seasons, including 12-8-1 in Ivy League competition.

During his senior year, Oberg and linebacker Jim Vailas were cocaptains. Vailas, now an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist in the Manchester, N.H., area, says he is not the least bit surprised to see Oberg making the move to coaching.

''I think all of us are actually a little jealous because he's able to do what he's always wanted to do," said Vailas. ''But this is a tremendous thing for Dartmouth football. Curt was such an influential leader when he played and he cares so much about football. For him to again be connected with Dartmouth and Dartmouth football, well, that's a double gainer."

Oberg is technically listed as the director of football operations, but he will be on the field, assisting Teevens and the full-time assistants in whatever capacity deemed necessary. In his brief exposure to the scene last spring, he already discovered that it's a lot harder to coach than it was to simply go out and play.

''You think because you played that you know," he said. ''But, as a coach, you have to know everything that's going on. And I learned pretty quickly that there's a lot going on."

For the next four months, there will be an awful lot going on. By the time the Dartmouth season ends somewhere around 4 p.m. on Nov. 19 with the finale against Princeton, all Oberg knows is that his new life, the one of 15-hour days and no weekends off, the one he really, really wants, will be over. The story does not yet have an ending, although his friends believe he's sold his last building.

And, to listen to him, you get the unmistakable feeling that somewhere, on some sideline, in some huddle, in some town, Curt Oberg will be talking, teaching, and living his dream for the foreseeable future.

''I'm pretty convinced it's going to stick," he said. ''To what extent, I still don't know."