BILLINGS — It doesn’t matter the sports level, referees often get a bad rap. Yet some, even long after their careers are done, continue to give back with a smile like Frank Costello.
On any given night of the week, odds are you’ll find the Billings native still wearing his stripes at the scorer’s table volunteering at Montana State Billings basketball games.
“I keep the book for every men’s game and work on the bench for the women’s program,” he said, relaxing in a seat behind the visitor's bench about 45 minutes before a recent women's tipoff at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
Name a rivalry showdown in Billings or a postseason tournament, and Costello has likely worked it.
“Even through all the years, a lot of those coaches and a lot of those people are still my friends, and it was just very enjoyable,” Costello said.
Though he admits some of the road trips weren’t so enjoyable.
“I think the one thing I don’t miss is coming home from Gillette, Wyoming, at 3:30 in the morning in a blizzard,” he recalled with a wry smile.
Before stepping away, Costello had been officiating for almost five decades, and not just basketball. He worked his share of football matchups, also assigning other officials to games and volunteering on multiple committees.
He was the guy that younger referees often looked up to — a big reason Costello was welcomed into the Montana Officials Association's hall of fame earlier this year. Naturally, he downplays the honor.
“I put on this shirt just the same as everybody else does, every day of every game, and go out and have fun,” Costello said.
Graduating from Billings Central in 1975, his full-time job is still as a Farmers Insurance agent, in a business now more than ever leaning on patience. And that’s a virtue Costello carried well.
When those old-school coaches, and the fans, used to really let him have it, he’d typically defuse it with humor.
“Refereeing is managing people … it’s managing a game. Any one of these people in these stands can referee, and some of them try to," he said with a knowing smile. "But you know, it’s just managing people under duress situations.”
These days, still wearing these stripes, Costello enjoys the best seat in the house as a hall of famer — only without the duress.
