Smith, Hoops for Hope aiming for $20,000 this year
Los Osos basketball coach David Smith has organized the second Hoops for Hope event set for March 12 at Los Osos that will feature basketball teams from five local fire departments playing for charity.
After raising over $17,000 in February of last year that was donated to San Antonio Hospital and City of Hope Cancer Center, the fund-raising event for cancer research is hoping to receive $20,000 in donations this year, according to Smith, a survivor of stage four colorectal cancer.
The basketball tournament between fire departments from Chino, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland was inspired by the Los Osos basketball coach and the late Chip Smith, an Ontario Fire Department Captain whom Smith met while undergoing cancer treatment last year.
"We're trying to expand the outreach," David Smith said. "Last year it was centered on myself and Chip but this year we're doing it in Chip's memory. Fortunately I'm doing well but not a day goes by that we don't hear about a family that is effected by cancer."
A Montclair fire department team will join Hoops for Hope this year, awarding defending champion Ontario a bye in the first round. Games begin at 1 p.m. with the championship game scheduled for 5:30.
For more information on the event, visit www.hoopsforhope.info or contact David Smith through Los Osos High School.
About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
Email Clay here
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