Media MonsterNFLVideo

Watch Chuck Pagano’s Emotional Remarks At His Return Press Conference

When Colts coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia in September, the news stunned the NFL. Fortunately, the only stunning thing since then is how quickly he’s recovered. While of course recovery from a disease like leukemia is a prolonged process and forced him to miss most of the season, Pagano was medically cleared to resume coaching last week, and today, in advance of the Colts’ regular season finale against the Texans, Pagano did just that. Pagano held a press conference upon his return today, in which he thanked everyone who supported him during the toughest time of his life. As one might expect, it was an emotional time. Video via ESPN:

Part 2:

In the wake of Pagano’s diagnosis, no one had anything but glowing words to say about him. The remarks above help make clear those glowing words were genuine, because he’s genuine. Pagano just overcame cancer, but at the podium, he was worried about not thanking enough people. I don’t know Pagano personally, obviously, but given (as I said upon his initial diagnosis) that the type of cancer he faced was the same as a good friend of mine battled last year, I can’t help but feel a bit of a personal connection to him. “Inspiring” isn’t normally a word one would attach to a press conference: hopefully you’ll forgive me if I make an exception for this one.

Follow @glennrd