Ravens’ Ogden keeping busy as retirement nears

That trait has helped the Baltimore Ravens’ 6-foot-9-inch, 345-pound left offensive tackle earn 11 straight trips to the Pro Bowl.

But that trait also appears to be the reason the Henderson resident is leaning heavily toward retirement after 12 seasons of toiling in NFL trenches.

Ogden, who has lived at Anthem Country Club since 1999, has never needed surgery in his career, but injuries to his hamstring and left big toe have hampered his play over the past two years and hastened his decision to retire.

“It’s just frustrating, because I couldn’t play, especially this last year, at the level that I’m used to playing at, and that kind of irritates me,” Ogden said at L.A. Boxing, a gym he and his wife, Kema, opened March 1. “I’m a perfectionist out there on the football field, and that’s kind of why I’m leaning toward retiring.

“I have not officially retired, but … the Ravens know to proceed with their offseason plans as if I’m retiring. So if I come back, it’s great, they said, but they’re proceeding as if I’m not.”

Ogden, who made a career-low 10 starts last season, injured his toe in November 2006 in a game against the Cleveland Browns — tearing tendons beneath the ball of his foot and partially tearing a tendon beneath his big toe. The injury still hasn’t healed.

“I taped it up the other day when I went running,” Ogden said. “It just hasn’t healed 100 percent, and I don’t know if it will. The doctor’s still not sure.

“I can still play, but … I don’t want to play if I can’t play at the level I’m capable of playing at.”

Ogden grew up in Washington, D.C., and was a four-year starter for UCLA, where he won the 1995 Outland Trophy, presented to the nation’s best interior lineman.

He was the inaugural draft pick of the Ravens, and the fourth overall selection, in 1996 and made 45 straight starts to begin his career.

Ogden started all 16 games in six of his first eight seasons and has missed just 16 starts in 12 years.

Ogden, who also has two touchdown catches, helped Baltimore win Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.

“I remember being on the field with the confetti falling and ‘We Are The Champions’ playing and I was like ‘wow, we did it,’ ” he said.

Ogden, 33, said he considered retiring after the 2006 season, in which the Ravens went 13-3 before losing in the playoffs to the Indianapolis Colts.

“I definitely considered it, but I thought we had a chance to do something special again. But we didn’t, obviously. We went 5-11,” he said. “I only played in one game we won this year, the last game of the year, so that was stressful.”

Ogden said he’s happy with Baltimore’s decision to hire John Harbaugh as coach this offseason.

“He’s a fiery guy, very fiery. He’s going to get guys motivated and going,” Ogden said. “He’s going to be a change for those guys around there, but it’s going to be good. I think they need a little kick in the butt, in a good way.”

Ogden said he will stay busy with his many charitable foundations and his passion, playing golf.

“I love golf,” said Ogden, a 15-handicap who lives in a house on the 14th hole at Anthem equipped with an elevator and super-sized ceilings and doorways. “We live on the course, so I just hop on a golf cart and go.”

Ogden has been married to Kema, a Las Vegas native who attended Chaparral High School and UNLV, for three years. The couple has a 3-year-old son, Kayden.

“The only thing I’m putting in his hands is a golf club,” Ogden said of his son. “That’s it.”

Ogden long has been involved in community service, establishing the Jonathan Ogden Foundation and the Ogden Club in the Baltimore area, among other endeavors, and he and his wife established the Ogden Foundation in the valley last year.

Ogden also is planning to host his seventh annual charity golf outing on April 28 at Southern Highlands Golf Club.

“I’m not an athlete who feels like the public owes them something. I owe the public,” he said. “That’s the way it should be. I’ve gotten so much from playing football, I figured I would give back.”