High School

Basketball Coach Billy Clapper “We Believe Clinic” Keeps Fight Alive Against Cancer

From his work at IMG Academy to being a GM with TBT’s Sideline Cancer, Coach Clapper’s one-day camp for high school players in Pennsylvania is bigger than sports

Wendell Maxey

For the past 11 years, Coach Clapper's "We Believe Clinic" has benefitted the work done by the Sideline Cancer organization's battle against pancreatic cancer.
For the past 11 years, Coach Clapper's "We Believe Clinic" has benefitted the work done by the Sideline Cancer organization's battle against pancreatic cancer. / Billy Clapper

This isn’t just another basketball camp. This isn’t even about sports really. The truth is It’s about so much more.  

For high school boys and girls basketball players outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who will attend Coach Billy Clapper’s “We Believe Clinic” at Hollidaysburg High School on Sunday, October 18th, the skills and drills session will crossover themes about life and the legacy you leave behind. That's because Coach Clapper is about more.

A 2011 Hollidaysburg High School graduate and former Penn State Altoona men’s basketball coach, he’s spent the past 10 years with IMG Academy, the renowned sports education institution in Bradenton, Florida. He’s equally used his experience and insight on the sidelines to raise awareness for a cause far bigger than a leather ball and a hoop. A cause far bigger than himself.

Don’t Stop Believing

Since 2014, Coach Clapper has served as General Manager of The Basketball Tournament’s Sideline Cancer team who competes in the annual $1million winner-take-all TBT Tournament. 

While the organization strives to provide research and treatment funds for those afflicted by pancreatic cancer through the efforts of the Hollidaysburg-based Greg and Cathy Griffith Family Foundation, Coach Clapper has also gone one-on-one with battling cancer. In December 20024, he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Much like the non-profit Griffith Foundation started by Cathy Griffith to honor her husband Greg, a former Hollidaysburg Area High School basketball standout who passed away at 50 in 2011 after battling pancreatic cancer, Coach Clapper takes tremendous pride in his contributions to Sideline Cancer and conducting high school age basketball clinics like “We Believe” to help spread the word. 

Faith, Laundry, And History

You’ve probably heard the story. It’s a pretty good one. If you’ve ever wondered how Sideline Cancer became involved in The Basketball Tournament, it’s a rather humble and heartfelt beginning. Cathy was carrying a basket of laundry up their stairs at home when Greg shared with her about his dream – in the middle of fighting pancreatic cancer – to take part in a nation-wide basketball tournament. It wasn’t long before that vision became a reality with Sideline Cancer joining the inaugural TBT in 2014, Since then, Sideline Cancer remains the only original team in "The Basketball Tournament” to play in every TBT tournament since its creation, having reached the tournament championship game in 2020. Led by a deep faith and generous support, as an organization Sideline Cancer has donated over $300,000 to support both pancreatic cancer research and patients. 

The boys and girls high school basketball players who take part in the “We Believe Clinic” at Hollidaysburg Area High School on Sunday will certainly hear about some of that incredible journey. They’ll hear about the positive impact of Sideline Cancer and the tenacity and tenure of TBT. Surely, they’ll hear about the kid from Tussey Mountain High School who transferred to Hollidaysburg and still returns to host basketball camps. Yet that’s not the only story at play here.

There’s also the tale that’s turned into a source of inspiration for the extended Sideline Cancer family. On the morning of their Regional Championship win this past July, Clapper shared the good news that after seven months of chemotherapy treatments that his doctor had declared him cancer free from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

That hard-fought victory belonged to Billy Clapper. 

Published
Wendell Maxey
WENDELL MAXEY

Wendell Maxey has worked as a featured sports writer since 2004 with his stories and interviews on professional, college, and high school sports appearing on ESPN.com, NBA.com, SLAM Magazine/SLAMOnline, FoxSports.com, and USA Today, among other national newspapers and publications. Along with covering the NBA (Knicks, Nets, Blazers), Maxey spent four years as an international writer in Europe, scouted and recruited professional basketball players for Nürnberg Falcons/ Nürnberger BC, and also gained experience coaching high school and middle school basketball in Germany, and the United States. A published author, Maxey’s work has been featured in four books with his latest contribution included in the 2025 release of Rise & Reign: The Story of the Champion Boston Celtics. In 2025, Wendell joined High School On SI to provide national coverage as a contributing writer.

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