NC State football players were once banned from going to Amedeo’s Italian Restaurant on Raleigh’s Western Boulevard.

In 1963, not long after the famous Raleigh eatery opened as a modest sandwich shop, Wolfpack head coach Earle Edwards told his players that if they were seen at the Western Boulevard restaurant, they would lose their scholarship.

The ban had nothing to do with Edwards’ lack of affection for founder Richard “Dick” DeAngelis and his younger brother Lou, both of whom had helped Edwards win Atlantic Coast Conference championships during their Wolfpack careers.

It had everything to do with the fact that, along with the 70-cent hoagies on the restaurant’s menu, six of the shop’s initial 12 seats were at a bar in an establishment with a liquor license, which was counter to Edwards’ code of conduct for his players.

That ban was certainly loosened through the years, with Amedeo’s eventually becoming the ultimate NC State hangout for coaches, players and fans and a literal shrine to Wolfpack athletics.

The tiny restaurant eventually expanded to include a sprawling dining room, private rooms where coaches like Jim Valvano and Chuck Amato frequently held court and, of course, a fully stocked bar.

The brothers also twice operated satellite restaurants in North Raleigh, brought their mother down to make Raleigh’s best cheesecake and made the brand Amedeo’s synonymous with Wolfpack athletics history.

The elder DeAngelis, known to his friends as “Pedio,” died on Wednesday after years of declining health. He was 85.

A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Dick DeAngelis grew up over his parents’ deli and Italian grocery store. He headed south to Raleigh in 1954 as part of fellow Keystone State native Edwards’ first recruiting class. For three years, DeAngelis blocked for running backs Dick Hunter and Dick Christy, and was an integral part of the Wolfpack’s first ACC title at the end of their senior season in 1957.

All three were selected to participate in the North South College All-Star Game on Christmas Day of that year, the first Wolfpack players to ever participate in that select contest.

He returned home to Reading after his playing career ended to be an assistant coach for his high school, but left home when he was not chosen to succeed the outgoing head coach.

He returned to Raleigh to become a volunteer assistant coach for the Wolfpack freshman team and eventually fill a culinary void in the Capital City: authentic Italian food, using recipes handed down from their mother and grandmother.

Dick and Lou DeAngelis also befriended two other Italian brothers who played football for the Wolfpack, linebackers Rosario and Charles Amato, who were also from Pennsylvania and needed a new family during their playing careers.

Rosie Amato bought the first pizza DeAngelis ever served and Chuck Amato began a lifelong friendship with DeAngelis that continued until the latter’s death on Wednesday.

“Back then, they knew my family was 500 miles away, so they were always there for me,” Chuck Amato told The Wolfpacker in 2001. “I think it’s been a special bond and one of the reasons for me is that we are both Italian. We’ve just been so close for so long that we almost do feel like a part of their family. Everything that he or they do has always been so sincere.

“The whole family – brothers, wives, sisters, children, mom — they’ve always been great to me.”

Even as Amato’s dietary restrictions forced him to switch from spicy sausage, onion and pepper sandwiches to vegetarian pizza, he was Amedeo’s biggest booster, dining at the restaurant every time Florida State played in the Triangle when he was a Seminole assistant and taking a heaping plate of lasagna back for legendary head coach Bobby Bowden to enjoy at the team hotel.

When Amato was named head coach of the Wolfpack in 2000, one of the first things he declared was that his weekly radio show would be held at his longtime friend’s restaurant.

Since then, it has been the location for other radio shows and podcasts, including several hosted by The Wolfpacker staff.

For nearly 60 years, DeAngelis and Amedeo’s attracted a parade of Wolfpack coaches, players, administrators and support personnel to interact with the local and distant fans who made the pilgrimage to the restaurant on game days or the weekdays that needed a dose of Wolfpack tradition, surrounded by hundreds of NC State photos, mementos and memorabilia.

While coaches of Italian heritage like men’s basketball’s Jim Valvano, wrestling’s Bob Guzzo and baseball’s Sam Esposito often held court there, so did women’s basketball’s Kay Yow, cross country and track and field’s Rollie Geiger, and most of the current athletics staff.

There are booths named for Wes Moore, late senior associate athletics director Frank Weedon, Carter-Finley Stadium, former cheerleading coach Cathy Buckey, and radio and television personalities Wally Ausley, Garry Dornburg, Don Shea and Tom Suiter.

A private room just inside the front entrance is named the Baseball Dugout in honor of Esposito, Ray Tanner and current baseball coach Elliott Avent, who befriended DeAngelis during the earliest part of his career. Avent and Amato were two of many friends who visited DeAngelis at the hospital on Tuesday, the day before he died.

“Dick was a great supporter of the program and his restaurant was always a friendly place for Wolfpackers to gather,” said former Wolfpack Club executive director Bobby Purcell. “When I was a coach, we would go there to eat after practice, and Dick was always there to tell us stories from his playing days.

“He was such a funny guy and a great storyteller. It was always great to go there and take a break from everything. He made you feel so at home.”

DeAngelis retired in 2010 and sold controlling interest in the restaurant, though some of his family maintain a share of the business and are still involved in its operation.

Funeral details are still pending.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.

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