Pacers organist who played through cancer dies

The fans didn't know it as they sat cheering for the Indiana Pacers.

They didn't know that as the organ blared — taunting the opponent and encouraging the players in blue and gold — that the man behind the fantastic sound had been rolled to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in a wheelchair.

He'd had chemo that day. He was in the advanced stages of colon cancer. And he was dying.

They didn't know it because Neil Copley played on through the very last game of the Pacers season.

"He was sick," said Dean Heaviland, Pacers vice president of game operations, on Monday. "But he would often give me an update saying, 'Hey, I got chemo today, but I'll come do the best I can.'"

Copley, the Pacers organist since 2008, died Friday of liver failure, the result of complications from the cancer.

He died just months after playing that last Pacers home game, just five days after playing at his church. And just two days after playing piano at the Greenwood Park Mall Von Maur.

And now that Copley's gone, so might be the organ at the Pacers games.

"I don't know if I'm really ready to just replace him," said Heaviland.

Copley could make an organ sound like it hated a player. He could make an organ make fun of a player. He could make an organ prompt players to run faster. He could make an organ love a player.

"Is there anybody that can fill in?" Heaviland said he would often ask in the rare occasion Copley couldn't be at a game. The answer was always no.

"I'm not sure that there is anybody really like him around that we can have," he said.

Copley, who also was the Pacers organist from 1980 to 1982 when the team played at Market Square Arena, was always behind the scenes. He followed the game from the top floor at the south end of Bankers Life in a meeting room called the Matrix.

He looked down to his right onto the court, playing without ever glancing at the keyboard.

Copley played the organ in sync with each possession. He would follow the shot clock, then change the way the music sounded as the shot clock started to expire. He had different prompts for different players he liked.

"He was so good they didn't even realize there was a person up there playing live," Heaviland said.

Often, no one with the Pacers organization even saw him. He'd come in a back door, ride up the elevator and take his spot at the last minute, after a day full of teaching music and playing elsewhere. In the final games, his caregiver Emily Walk would wheel him up to his organ.

Still, when he arrived at his perch, Copley would declare — as he always did — "Neil's here!" to no one in particular. And then he would play.

The Pacers gig, however, was just a small part of Copley.

In his early 50s, Copley was not married and didn't have close family around. His family were his friends, his sports community and his music community.

He was a music assistant at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. He had played for the Indianapolis Ice hockey games. He was the principal trombonist in the Indiana Wind Symphony.

"He was one of the most gentle and creative people I've ever met," said Charles Conrad, music director of the symphony. "One of the most intelligent people for sure."

Copley was also funny. He had a quick wit and a lot of one-liners. And he didn't like the idea that his life was ending. He wanted more, said Ann Conrad who, along with husband Charles, attended Indianapolis Colts games with Copley. They were all season ticket holders.

After he played at Von Maur last week, Ann Conrad said Copley turned to his caregiver and said: "Darn it. I'm playing better than ever."

"He wanted to get the chance to keep that up, keep playing more," said Ann Conrad. "He told her he was going to call Von Maur to see if he could play Friday. He was not going to give up."

But Copley was weak. And Friday, when he was hoping to be at Von Maur, his health took a turn for the worse. He was admitted to the hospital and, before the Conrads could get there, Copley had died.

The first Indiana Wind Symphony concert in October will be dedicated to Copley. The first Colts home game will be missing a crucial fan.

Because as much as Copley loved music and the Pacers, he loved the Colts just as much.

When the team came to Indianapolis in 1984, Copley, his mother and five of her friends bought season tickets. In those three decades, Copley has missed just one game. He had a concert to play.

Copley was the last member of that original 7-ticket group still living. The Conrads had joined him five years ago.

"He's such a talented man," said Ann Conrad. "Sports and music were so connected in his life."

Perhaps no better connected than when Copley played that organ for the Pacers.

Follow Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.