EAST SYRACUSE MINOA SCHOOLS – East Syracuse Minoa DECA is hosting its “2023 Costello Classic” fundraiser Saturday, Dec. 16.
Now in its second year, the night of entertainment is meant to honor the memory of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and district alum Larry Costello with all proceeds going to the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Taking place in the gymnasium of ESM Central High School at 6400 Fremont Road in East Syracuse, the event will consist of a student-versus-staff basketball game and then a game featuring district alumni.
Doors are set to open around 5:30 p.m. the day of the fundraiser. The first game will tip off at 6:30 that evening, and the second game will start at about 7:30 p.m.
“It’s just a perfect event,” said Bob Anzalone, the high school’s DECA advisor. “It brings the students or staff bragging rights, they have a lot of fun during it and they look forward to it, and the student body has a good time going to watch, plus local businesses and alumni are involved. It’s a celebration of community.”
Anzalone said community is something Costello strongly believed in, evidenced by his insistence that his NBA trading cards reflect that his birthplace was specifically Minoa and not Syracuse.
Costello was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2022 as a contributor for his efforts as both a player and coach.
Playing alongside such names as Wilt Chamberlain, he won the 1967 NBA title as an All-Star point guard with the Philadelphia 76ers and later coached the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship in 1971, leading a team that comprised legends like Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor.
A graduate of Minoa High School, Costello also returned to the area to serve as the Spartans’ first basketball coach when the village districts merged to become ESM.
Costello passed away from cancer in December 2001. That and his local connection sparked Anzalone to come up with the idea of a fundraiser in Costello’s name to benefit the V Foundation.
That organization was jointly founded by ESPN and basketball coach Jim Valvano shortly before his own passing from metastatic adenocarcinoma with the mission to fund research, save lives and achieve victory over cancer.
The entirety of direct donations are put to that cause and the recruitment of scientists rather than operating expenses due to an endowment set up to cover the administrative side of the foundation.
The V Foundation, now in its 30th year, has granted over $310 million to cancer research to date according to v.org.
Calling the V Foundation for Cancer Research a “game-changer” that gives people more of a fighting chance, Anzalone said every dollar and donation matters.
Anzalone is himself a three-time survivor of multiple solitary plasmacytoma, and his mother passed away from breast cancer that spread to the bone.
“When I hear Jimmy Valvano’s ‘Don’t Ever Give Up’ speech, everything he talks about I can relate to—it’s my life,” said Anzalone, who teaches sports management and business education at ESM High School. “I’m one of those people that feels that if it wasn’t for him supporting cancer research, I don’t think I’d be here today, so it’s a way of giving back so future generations also have that.”
Tickets for the 2023 Costello Classic will only be available to purchase in-person at the door the day of, not online. It will be $3 for students and $5 for adults.
The event has its own fundraising page that can be viewed on v.org after selecting the Events & Fundraisers tab. Anyone unable to attend the event can make a tax deductible donation through that page, and they can do so in honor of a loved one.
It’s the goal of ESM DECA, a student-centered organization that uses modern business skills and assists nonprofits, to raise at least $5,000 with the upcoming event.
Additional questions can be directed to the email [email protected].
