Former Offensive Lineman and Amedeo’s Founder DeAngelis Passes Away
10/20/2021 6:49:00 PM | Football
By Tim Peeler
RALEIGH, N.C. - Dick DeAngelis, the former NC State football player and assistant freshman football coach who wrote the history of NC State athletics on the walls of his Amedeo's Italian Restaurant on Raleigh's Western Boulevard, died Wednesday, two days after being admitted to a local hospital. He was 85.
A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, DeAngelis was in the first recruiting class of Wolfpack head football coach and fellow Pennsylvania native Earle Edwards, who was hired to establish a successful football program in Raleigh.
Within three years, with offensive lineman DeAngelis blocking for running backs Dick Christy and Dick Hunter and one of the best defenses in school history, the Wolfpack won the its first Atlantic Coast Conference football championship, claiming the 1957 title on the last day of the season with a 29-26 victory over South Carolina.
After a short stint as a football coach, including as a volunteer assistant for the NC State freshman team in the early 1960s, DeAngelis followed in his parents' footsteps in the restaurant business, opening a 12-seat restaurant in a new strip mall on Western Boulevard about one and half miles from NC State's main campus. His younger brother Lou, who also played football for the Wolfpack, later joined the family business. The original restaurant expanded over the years and twice operated satellite locations in North Raleigh.
Amedeo's primarily used traditional recipes passed down from DeAngelis' mother and grandmother and, after the death of his father, he moved his mother to Raleigh to make cheesecake for the restaurant.
In its nearly six decades, Amedeo's established a national reputation for authentic Italian food, with a full-service dining room decorate with NC State photos, mementos and memorabilia. With the help of his family, DeAngelis recognized just about everyone associated with NC State athletics.
"His restaurant is practically a shrine to all things Wolfpack," said former Wolfpack Club executive director and current special assistant to the athletics director Bobby Purcell. "When I was a football coach, we would go there after practice to eat and he was always there to tell stories and talk football."
Though he was a standout football player with the Wolfpack – he, Hunter and Christy were the first NC State players ever selected to participate in the North-South College Football All-Star Game following the 1957 season in Miami – DeAngelis insisted on recognizing the accomplishments of all NC State athletics, from football to men's and women's basketball to baseball to all other Olympic sports.
Amedeo's has a large section devoted to Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kay Yow, a side room designated as a baseball dugout and booths that celebrate Wolfpack athletic stalwarts like senior associate athletics director Frank Weedon, cheer coach Cathy Buckey and various radio and television announcers.
He was always devoted, however, to those who shared his Italian heritage, particularly men's basketball coach Jim Valvano, wrestling coach Bob Guzzo and football coach Chuck Amato.
Amato and his older brother Rosario were taken in by the DeAngelis family when they first arrived in Raleigh from Easton, Pennsylvania, to play for Edwards. Rosie Amato, Chuck's older brother and a one-time offensive lineman for the Pack, bought the first pizza Amedeo's ever served.
Throughout his career at Arizona and Florida State, Amato remained close to DeAngelis and often brought athletic celebrities to the restaurant. Legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden had Amedeo's lasagna delivered to his hotel room every time the Seminoles played in the Triangle.
DeAngelis, who was born May 3, 1936, was a lifelong Wolfpack Club donor, who stayed involved with the program throughout his life. When he retired in 2010, he sold controlling interest in the restaurant, though his family remained involved in its operation and decoration with memorabilia.
A funeral mass will be at 10am on Monday, Oct. 25 at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh.
In lieu of flowers, consider a gift to the NC State Wolfpack Club, C/O Amedeo DeAngelis Memorial Scholarship Fund, PO Box 37100, Raleigh, NC 27627.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Dick DeAngelis, the former NC State football player and assistant freshman football coach who wrote the history of NC State athletics on the walls of his Amedeo's Italian Restaurant on Raleigh's Western Boulevard, died Wednesday, two days after being admitted to a local hospital. He was 85.
A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, DeAngelis was in the first recruiting class of Wolfpack head football coach and fellow Pennsylvania native Earle Edwards, who was hired to establish a successful football program in Raleigh.
Within three years, with offensive lineman DeAngelis blocking for running backs Dick Christy and Dick Hunter and one of the best defenses in school history, the Wolfpack won the its first Atlantic Coast Conference football championship, claiming the 1957 title on the last day of the season with a 29-26 victory over South Carolina.
After a short stint as a football coach, including as a volunteer assistant for the NC State freshman team in the early 1960s, DeAngelis followed in his parents' footsteps in the restaurant business, opening a 12-seat restaurant in a new strip mall on Western Boulevard about one and half miles from NC State's main campus. His younger brother Lou, who also played football for the Wolfpack, later joined the family business. The original restaurant expanded over the years and twice operated satellite locations in North Raleigh.
Amedeo's primarily used traditional recipes passed down from DeAngelis' mother and grandmother and, after the death of his father, he moved his mother to Raleigh to make cheesecake for the restaurant.
In its nearly six decades, Amedeo's established a national reputation for authentic Italian food, with a full-service dining room decorate with NC State photos, mementos and memorabilia. With the help of his family, DeAngelis recognized just about everyone associated with NC State athletics.
"His restaurant is practically a shrine to all things Wolfpack," said former Wolfpack Club executive director and current special assistant to the athletics director Bobby Purcell. "When I was a football coach, we would go there after practice to eat and he was always there to tell stories and talk football."
Though he was a standout football player with the Wolfpack – he, Hunter and Christy were the first NC State players ever selected to participate in the North-South College Football All-Star Game following the 1957 season in Miami – DeAngelis insisted on recognizing the accomplishments of all NC State athletics, from football to men's and women's basketball to baseball to all other Olympic sports.
Amedeo's has a large section devoted to Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Kay Yow, a side room designated as a baseball dugout and booths that celebrate Wolfpack athletic stalwarts like senior associate athletics director Frank Weedon, cheer coach Cathy Buckey and various radio and television announcers.
He was always devoted, however, to those who shared his Italian heritage, particularly men's basketball coach Jim Valvano, wrestling coach Bob Guzzo and football coach Chuck Amato.
Amato and his older brother Rosario were taken in by the DeAngelis family when they first arrived in Raleigh from Easton, Pennsylvania, to play for Edwards. Rosie Amato, Chuck's older brother and a one-time offensive lineman for the Pack, bought the first pizza Amedeo's ever served.
Throughout his career at Arizona and Florida State, Amato remained close to DeAngelis and often brought athletic celebrities to the restaurant. Legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden had Amedeo's lasagna delivered to his hotel room every time the Seminoles played in the Triangle.
DeAngelis, who was born May 3, 1936, was a lifelong Wolfpack Club donor, who stayed involved with the program throughout his life. When he retired in 2010, he sold controlling interest in the restaurant, though his family remained involved in its operation and decoration with memorabilia.
A funeral mass will be at 10am on Monday, Oct. 25 at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh.
In lieu of flowers, consider a gift to the NC State Wolfpack Club, C/O Amedeo DeAngelis Memorial Scholarship Fund, PO Box 37100, Raleigh, NC 27627.
Coach Doeren Weekly Press Conference (Sept. 22)
Monday, September 22
Coach Doeren Weekly Press Conference (Sept. 15)
Monday, September 15
Coach Doeren Weekly Press Conference (Sept. 8)
Monday, September 08
FB Players Postgame Presser vs Virginia
Saturday, September 06