Before he became the first ever head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, Larry Costello was well-known in Wisconsin (JSOnline.com, File Photo)

And during the same years in which he established himself in his very first coaching venture, Larry Costello became one of the most valuable assets the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Camps would ever have during their 32-year run.

When the Bucks’ original team president, Ray Patterson, decided that a youth camp program would be the ideal vehicle to establish a fan base for the team throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest, he enlisted Ron Blomberg as camp director. A short time afterward, Jerry Sullivan came aboard as associate director.

As they laid the groundwork for the program, Patterson and the two Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall-of-Famers figured that the first coach of Milwaukee’s fledgling franchise might make the ideal headliner for their camps. And they were right … beyond any of their expectations.

“Larry Costello and Hubie Brown (Costello’s second assistant coach in Milwaukee) never worried about the clock when they were working the camps,” Sullivan recalled. “They’d come in after breakfast and go until lunch. They’d alternate days.

"They’d use the group coaches to demonstrate what they were covering, and they’d teach as much basketball as they could in those three hours. Sometimes I think it was more than the kids could handle, but the staff coaches we had there loved it."

Though Costello was new to the coaching ranks, he had compiled a highly successful resume as a player – a coach on the floor, so to speak.

Costello played his college ball at Niagara University of New York from 1950-54, teaming with Hubie Brown as well as Frank Layden, who would one day join them in the NBA as head coach and general manager of the Utah Jazz.

Costello helped Niagara reach the National Invitation Tournament (then considered the postseason tourney of college basketball) in each of his final two seasons. The Purple Eagles finished third in 1954.

As a junior, Costello averaged 18.2 points per game and earned honorable mention on the United Press International All-American Team. He was also named first-team all-NIT after scoring 25 points against Brigham Young and 20 versus Seton Hall.

During his junior campaign, he switched his uniform number from 24 to 69 after playing 69 minutes and 40 seconds in Niagara’s 88-81, six-overtime victory over Siena on Feb. 21, 1953. In that game, Costello hit three jumpers in the sixth overtime to seal the win. He fouled out with 20 seconds.

Costello averaged 15.3 points as a senior. When he graduated, he held school records for points in a season (510), points in a career (1,275), field goals in a season (140), field goals in a career (475), free throws in a season (140), free throws in a career (323), points in a home game (34), highest single-season scoring average (18.2) and highest career scoring average (15.0).

Selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the second round of the 1954 NBA Draft, Costello averaged 6.2 points and 4.1 assists in 19 games as a rookie. He spent the 1955-56 season in the military service, then returned to Philly for one season before being sold by the Warriors to the Syracuse Nationals in October of 1957.

Costello enjoyed his most prolific scoring seasons with the Nats, playing close to his hometown of Minoa, N.Y. He was chosen to participate in five NBA All-Star Games while with the Nationals, then found himself back in Philly when the Warriors moved to San Francisco and the Nats relocated to the "City of Brotherly Love" and were renamed the 76ers.

Costello logged three more seasons in Philadelphia and one in-between with Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) of the Eastern League before his playing career ended.

In 1966-67, his final season with Philadelphia, Costello played on what for many years was then the winningest team in NBA history. Those Sixers, featuring the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham and Chet "The Jet" Walker, went 68-13 during the regular season and ousted the Cincinnati Royals, the Boston Celtics and, ironically, the San Francisco Warriors in the finals to win the NBA championship.

Once the Bucks had been founded and team officials began looking for a coach, one of the individuals in whom they were interested was Alex Hannum, who coached that Sixers team. Hannum was not interested in moving to the Midwest, but he recommended Costello. The Bucks actually selected Costello in the 1967 expansion draft, but he ultimately became their coach, ironically a day before John Erickson was announced as their first general manager.

Sullivan remembers several of Costello's hallmarks as a player – ones he demonstrated during his camp sessions. For one, he was one of the last of the NBA’s two-handed set shooters. And for another, he shot his free throws underhanded – and made 84 percent of them during his pro career.

"As a player, Larry was more of a ballhandler and playmaker, but he could really shoot," Sullivan said. "His shot was one of the most unusual-looking shots I ever saw, but he was very accurate. And he'd shoot those underhand free throws of his with a flick of his wrists. Guy Rodgers, who was one of the original Bucks, used to shoot his free throws underhanded, too."

Costello did not necessarily spend a lot of time trying to convince campers to emulate his shooting form, but he did put on some impressive exhibitons for them.

"Larry would demonstrate his shot – that two-handed set shot," Sullivan said. "He’d hit 15, 20 or 25 of those in a row."

Sullivan remembers Costello always having attentive audiences. In fact, he demanded the youngsters' full attention, like many basketball coaches of his day.

Costello approached his coaching in the same way. The 1968-69 Bucks, featuring such veterans as Rodgers, Len Chappell, Wayne Embry and Fred Hetzel; young players such as Jon McGlocklin and Flynn Robinson who seized their first substantial pro playing opportunities; and prospects like Greg Smith and Don Smith, won 27 games – the second-most for an expansion team in NBA history.

The original Bucks averaged 110.2 points per game – staggering by today’s standards.

During the next two seasons, the Bucks drafted Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob Dandridge, traded for perennial NBA All-Star Oscar Robertson and skyrocketed to the 1971 NBA Championship.

In 1974, Costello piloted Milwaukee back to the NBA Finals, where the team lost to the Boston Celtics in an epic, seven-game series. Altogether, he posted a 430-300 regular-season record and a 37-23 playoff mark with the Bucks. He later coached the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Does (a women’s pro team) before concluding his career with a seven-year stint at Utica (N.Y.) College, where he guided the program from Division-III to Division-I status.

Costello died in 2001 after a year-long battle with cancer, but his legacy will live on with Milwaukee basketball fans … and with Ron Blomberg, Jerry Sullivan and the many campers and coaches whose lives he touched.

"If you befriended Larry, he’d always be loyal to you," Sullivan said. "He was one of the most loyal people I have ever met.

"After he’d finished coaching the Bucks, he’d often look Ron Blomberg and I up if he came into town. He'd call our office and stop by, or we’d go to breakfast or lunch. Later on, after he retired, he's come back in and work our camps.

"He was a good man."

Be sure to read Part VI of the series!