Anthony Isaac “Tony” Cook loved basketball.

He was working on his game so he could try out for the South Allegheny High School boys’ basketball team this past winter.

As a child, he always had to put in extra time to be able to dribble and shoot because of weakness in his right arm from an operation when he was 9 months old. He was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve tissue.

But Tony never got the chance to try out for the high school team, his father, Bilal Cook, of Glassport said on Saturday.

Tony Cook died from cancer on Aug. 8, 2021.

He was 16 years old.

In January 2019, he had a cancerous tumor in his abdomen removed. He needed an additional operation when the cancer returned.

Bilal Cook talked about his son as he stood outside the school’s gymnasium in Liberty Borough on Saturday where hundreds of kids attended a basketball clinic.

“This is what my son wanted,” Cook said. “He played as long as he was physically able to, and he wanted other kids to be able to play basketball, which was his favorite sport, and all sports.”

Cook and his wife Diana started The TONYSTRONG Foundation. At the foundation’s kick-off event on Saturday, organizers said they hoped to raise money to cover the cost of sports clinics and teams for children in the Mon Valley who don’t have the money.

Shane Dunlap | Tribune-Review

Kids participate in a basketball skills lesson during the first fundraising event for The TONYSTRONG Foundation on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at South Allegheny High School in Liberty Borough.

Before his death, Tony talked to his parents about doing something to help other kids get in the game. He would often be seen keeping score for his younger brothers’ teams or heard through a microphone as the teams’ public address announcer.

Tony’s grandfather, Henry Cook, said he could feel his grandson’s presence. He said Tony was always thinking of others. His legacy will never…