Born: Topeka

Family: Brother, Aaron, 37, and sister, Lori, 40.

Occupation: Owner, Gambino’s Pizza in Tonganoxie and Eudora with brother Aaron.

Dream job as a child: Boden wanted to be a pilot, an air force pilot to be specific. But then as he got older, he couldn’t pass a hearing test.

“I’m legally deaf,” Boden said. “I’ve had it all my life. I just kind of adapted to it.”

Digging deeper: Boden, 34, graduated from Seaman High School in Topeka in 1998.

He played baseball for former Tonganoxie High coach Phil Loomis, who coached at Seaman for years. From there, he played baseball at Emporia State University and got a degree in business administration.

Boden was working for Budweiser 11 years ago in his first job out of college when his brother get the Tonganoxie Gambino’s location started when it was in the retail center at Stone Creek Drive.

About a month into operations, the manager left.

“I wasn’t planning on staying,” Boden said. “And then the manager quit. I just took over from there.”

Boden has been here ever since. In that time he’s watched the restaurant move after about four years to its current locale south of U.S. Highway 24-40 in the building Gambino’s shares with Rice House.

“This town is extremely supportive of Gambino’s,” Boden said. “If you give to this community, they’re giving back. That’s kind of been my motto.

“If you give to your community they’ll support you and this community’s been great.”

When not running the restaurant, Boden likes to be on the water, whether it’s fishing or boating.

He also is somewhat of a hunter, he said.

“I’m not a very good one, but I like going,” Boden said.