The Pittsburgh Basketball Club is proud to announce the formation of the Sam Clancy Award for Western Pa’s Top Senior Forward.
The award is named after the great Sam Clancy. Long considered one of Western Pa’s top forwards, Sam was the anchor of the great Fifth Avenue and Brashear High School teams of the mid 70’s. As a great scorers and rebounder, Sam was considered one of the top players in not only the state of Pennsylvania, but the entire nation.
He was honored with All City and All State honors as well as a starting position on the Pennsylvania team in Sonny Vaccaro’s legendary Dapper Dan Roundball Classic. Sam was considered one of the top recruits in the nation.
Sam continued his basketball career at the University of Pittsburgh where under Coach Tim Grgurich, he was one of the top performers in the history of the Eastern 8 Conference. As a Senior, Sam led Pitt to the NCAA tournament second round, losing to eventual Final Four participant North Carolina. He was drafted in the 1981 NBA draft in the fourth round by the Phoenix Suns.
Sam remains one of the top scorers and rebounders in Pitt’s illustrious basketball history. Sam’s career point total of 1,671 and rebounds of 1,362 remain among the top careers in not only Pitt history, but the Eastern 8/Atlantic 10 Conference. In addition to these honors, Sam also represented the United States at the Pan Am games where he won a Gold Medal at the World Championships under legendary Coach Bob Knight.
Sam’s was not limited to greatness on the hardwood. After completing his basketball career he went on to a distinguished career playing professional football for the Seattle Seahawks, Indianapolis Colts, and Cleveland Browns.
The Pittsburgh Basketball Club is honored to create this award for one of Western Pa’s all-time best. A watch list for Senior Forwards under consideration for this annual award is being developed with area High school coaches and local media. The first annual Clancy Award will be selected at the completion of this year’s High School season and given in April 2024 at the first annual PBC Awards Lunch.
More details of this event will follow.
