Former Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan found out last week that he has glandular cancer and will need to have surgery to remove a tumor from an area near his neck. He asked the doctor if he could delay the operation for a week, so that he could attend the Cowboys-Jets game on Sunday at Metlife Stadium and see his son Rex, who is head coach of the Jets, coach against his son Rob, who is defensive coordinator of Dallas.
“I asked the doctor if it would be OK to go to the game before I had the surgery,” Ryan said yesterday to Newsday.
“He said I could go.”
As you would expect, Buddy launched his sons’ careers by teaching them everything he knew about football. I’ve heard the story of how Buddy took a weekend to teach them all the defensive fronts and blitzes, which he had used in his coaching career. He had tried to talk them out of the profession because it’s so time demanding, but once he found out that they were serious about coaching he taught them everything he knows.
I remember Rex and Rob hanging around practices when Buddy was my coach with the Eagles. They played football in college and you could see that they had a love of the game.
“He knows this is a big thing for him and a big thing for the Ryans,” Rob Ryan said to a group of media members on Monday. “He’s about the only guy who’s beat cancer about every time. He’s been through it about four or five times, so I’m sure the prognosis is great for him because he always wins.”
This isn’t the first time that Buddy has seen his boys coach against each other on the NFL level, but he doesn’t want to miss any times when they battle.
“They’ve done it a hundred times, and I went to a bunch of ’em,” Buddy said. “There was Baltimore [Ravens] and Oakland [Raiders], and Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee State, and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State , and then last year when the Jets played the Browns. We’ve had a lot of ’em. They’re all good to be at.”
Buddy is now 80 years of age and had a bout with cancer a number of years ago. His boys talk all the time about how tough their Dad is, so they believe he will come out of the surgery going strong.
Here’s hoping the best for Buddy! He brought big time football to Philly. But was run out of town before he could finish the job. (The Philadelphia sports writers didn’t like Buddy). His “46” defense was genius and changed the game (later referred to as “eight in the box” when adapted by other teams). The Buddy Ryan era was one of the greatest, and, entertaining, in Eagle sports history.
Buddy brought passion back to Philly football after the old swamp fox, Marion Campbell, couldn’t. He was a great defensive coach with fire in his belly. I wish him all the best!
His defense was the best the Eagles ever had. They instilled fear in the hearts of opposing offenses. I wish him a total and speedy recovery after sugery.