Born in Paterson, NJ on February 20th, 1921, Jim J. Costello, Jr grew up in a drum corps family. His father, James Sr., was a member of the Pellington Post corps and the East Orange Post before joining the St. George Cadets in Paterson. At the age of eleven, Jim Jr. joined the St. George Cadets as a drummer, and continued to play with that corps until entering the Navy in 1942. Serving as a fire control-man, Jim Costello learned the electrical trade, the skill that would be his livelihood once back in civilian life.



The Second World War ended in August 1945, and Jim, along with nearly twelve million other servicemen, returned home to take up life where they had left off; to start a career, to get married, to buy a house, and to raise a family. The idea of forming a senior drum & bugle corps, for most, was well down on the list of priorities, but there were those who remembered the fun, thrills, and camaraderie of being in a drum corps, and it was still very much in their blood.



On March 20th, 1946, the Caballeros were officially organized by a small group of recent veterans, former members of the St. George Cadets, including Jim Costello, his brother Bob, John McAuliffe (later to become Jim Costello's brother-in-law), Joe Scarber, and George Hayek. A few short weeks later, the corps made its first appearance.



If you had been in Bayonne, New Jersey on that morning in May, 1946, and had walked up to Jim Costello, a twenty-five year old drummer getting ready to march in the Memorial Day parade, and told him that in 1996, fifty years from then, he would still be the director of this drum & bugle corps, and that for the next half century it would be the most famous and successful senior corps of all time, he would undoubtedly have told you that you were crazy!



But, of course, that is exactly what happened. The men that marched in the Memorial Day parade that inaugural year, dressed in various military uniforms, just wanted to get back into playing in a drum corps, but to a man, there were no aspirations whatsoever of becoming internationally famous.



A primary goal of the newly formed corps was to be different from all the others. The concept of Latin, or Spanish style uniform was agreed upon and the corps appeared for the first time in the now familiar Caballero uniform competing in their first field competition in Trenton, New Jersey on July 20th, 1947.



Jim Costello's father, the late James Sr. Was largely responsible for the design. He had seen a small corps in San Raphael, California with a similar uniform and thought it might work well for the Caballeros back home in New Jersey. Obviously it did.



In August of 1947, the Caballeros attended their first National American Legion Championship contest at Randall's Island Stadium in New York City, and placed eighth. In 1948, the corps attended the Nationals in Miami, finishing fifth; but a year later, they were disqualified because they had not finished in the top ten at the 1949 Nationals in Philadelphia. A month later, however, after regrouping and putting in some extra practice sessions, the Caballeros won their first Legion State Championship at Wildwood, New Jersey over the Jersey Joes of Riverside, the 1948 National Champions.



Keeping up with the trends, and being in tune with the drum corps scene these days is a never-ending task for a corps director, and to his credit, Jim Costello has possessed the foresight, the tenacity, and the flexibility to change with the times as styles in music, drill and presentation have evolved. He has always striven to provide the corps with the best of equipment, instructors and arrangers, and he maintains an open mind as to innovations of any kind which could affect the corps.



There have been great men in all forms of endeavor throughout history who have risen above the masses to excel. Many of our heroes come from the world of sports, and more often than not are the players themselves. On occasion, however, we also recognize outstanding coaches for their ability to spark and inspire their teams, to lead by example, and to preserve through difficult times; qualities that, more often than not, translate into winning championship seasons.



Most people would agree that coaches such as Vince Lombardi and Don Shula were in a league of their own in this regard. Now, certainly not to minimize the accomplishments of Lombardi or Shula, but simply for the purpose of putting things into perspective, Jim Costello has been at the head of the Hawthorne Caballeros for fifty years; two-thirds of his life, and in that time, the corps has been in championship form more years than not. He has given of himself untiringly and unselfishly. Just as an example, in 1974, while planning for a trip to Miami to compete in the American Legion Championship, it became obvious that there wasn't enough money in the budget. Costello quietly took a second mortgage on his house in order to finance the trip.



Beginning back in the sixties and seventies, the corps would spend a long "mini-training camp" weekend prior to memorial Day and the start of the season at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Arriving on Friday night, corps members could count on a music rehearsal that would last until at least midnight. Saturday started at 6 A.M. in the mess hall, with drill practice scheduled for 7; and it lasted all day.



Another music practice followed the drill practice, again lasting well past midnight. Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday, and the afternoon usually ended with several runs through the entire show, after which the corps headed for home.



Jim Costello, wearing the white baseball cap that long ago became one of his trademarks, presided over these exhausting practice sessions, starting with a refresher course in the basics of marching; then breaking down and fine-tuning every aspect of the show until it met with his full approval as well as that of the other instructors. By the end of those sessions, Costello usually had lost his voice completely, but those weekend mini-camps got the Caballeros into midseason form compared to the competition.



Jim Costello is one of the most widely known and respected individuals in the drum corps world.