Lawrence Ronald "Larry"
Costello (July 2, 1931 in Minoa, New York
– December 13, 2001) was an American professional
basketball player and coach.
He was known as the
National Basketball
Association's last two-handed set shooter.
After playing at
Niagara
University
, he joined the Philadelphia Warriors in 1954.
Two years later he was traded to the
Syracuse Nationals. He retired in 1965
from the
Philadelphia 76ers (the
former Syracuse Nationals), but eventually came back for the
1966-67 NBA season after new head
coach
Alex Hannum told him he needed a
veteran point guard. With 42 games into the season, Costello ripped
his
Achilles tendon on January 6,
1967 and was replaced by
Wali Jones. He
did, however, come back to participlate in the 1967 playoffs.
Costello ended his career for the second and final time in
1968.
During his NBA career, Costello was selected to six
NBA All-Star
Game (playing in five). He led the league in
free throw percentage in the
1962-63 and
1964-65 seasons.
Costello began his coaching career at East Syracuse-Minoa High
School where he coached the boys varsity basketball team to the
state championship for the first time in school history. He took
over as head coach of the expansion team
Milwaukee Bucks in 1968 and coached them to
a league-best 66-16 mark in 1970-71 including a then-NBA record
20
game win streak. They won the championship in the post-season
with a 4-0 sweep of the
Baltimore
Bullets. After a 3-15 start into the
1976-77 season, he was fired. He coached
the
Chicago Bulls for 56 games in
1978-79 before returning to
Milwaukee to coach the
Milwaukee Does
of the
Women's
Professional Basketball League for part of the 1979-1980
season.
Costello's last coaching job was at
Utica
College in the 1980s. The school was making the transition from
Division III to
Division I as an independent. Costello coached
one season in Division III. In his second year in Division I, the
Pioneers were the 7th most improved team in the country based on
their won-loss record. He retired in 1987.
Costello appeared on
NBA Live videogame
series, as member of the 50's
NBA Live Legend All-Stars
Team.
Costello died on December 13, 2001 after battling cancer for more
than a year.
Notes
- BUCKS: Larry Costello, Bucks First Head Coach, Dies
at Age 70
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