Jets coach Rex Ryan revealed Tuesday that his father, Buddy, recently was diagnosed with cancer for a third time, the *New York Daily News* reported.
"It's going to take more than this to get rid of him," Rex Ryan said at the NFL Annual Meeting in New Orleans. "That's what he always says."
Buddy Ryan, 77, made his mark as defensive coordinator of the mid-1980s Chicago Bears teams, including the one that won Super Bowl XX after the 1985 season. He also was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. He was an assistant under Week Ewbank for the Jets when they won Super Bowl III, and he coordinated the Minnesota Vikings' "Purple People Eaters" defenses of the 1970s.
Buddy Ryan twice has overcome melanoma, considered the most dangerous type of skin cancer, as well as encephalitis, which is an acute inflammation of the brain. Rex Ryan's wife, Michelle, accompanied Buddy as he underwent more tests Tuesday in New York.
"It's something else (not melanoma). I'm not going to get into it," Rex Ryan said. "He's a tough old guy. He's getting a second opinion. He should be all right."
Ryan and his twin brother, Rob, who is now the defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys, worked together on their father's Cardinals staff in 1994 and 1995.
Rex Ryan has often talked about wanting to win a Super Bowl with the Jets because his father was an assistant coach for the franchise's only champion.
"I learned so much from my dad. I learned the game of football, the way you do things," Ryan has said. "The way he would build his team on passionate, physical, aggressive people. I'm taking all those things from my father."
