Amato recovering from cancer treatment

Chuck Amato, the colorful former N.C. State football coach, won't soon forget April 15 - tax day - of this year.

That's the day he was making a 150-mile trip back home to Tallahassee, Fla., from Gainesville, Fla., and his doctor called with good news. After a six-week treatment regimen that included twice daily radiation treatments five days a week and weekly chemotherapy, tests showed Amato had rid his body of cancer.

"Everybody said it's an 85 to 95 percent cure rate," Amato said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Tallahassee. ". . .but you know, it didn't say 100 percent. Somebody's not making it. It was good to hear [the cancer-free diagnosis]. There's no question, it was good to hear."

Amato, a former N.C. State football player and wrestler, was the Wolfpack's head coach from 2000 to 2006. After taking over for Bobby Bowden after last season, new Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher didn't retain Amato.

Shortly afterward, Amato was diagnosed with cancer. Amato, 63, still hopes to get back into coaching, although he said that's unlikely to happen until after the 2010 season.

"I'm getting some strength back," Amato said. "I'm getting my energy back. I'm not as sleepy as I once was or as tired as I once was. Time will heal it all."

For more on this story, read Wednesday's edition of The Charlotte Observer or the Raleigh News & Observer.

Ken Tysiac

(2009 file photo above, Getty Images)