In the 1980s, WBC light welterweight champion Billy Costello put Kingston on the boxing world map with an electrifying series of title defense bouts at the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center. Now, his family will carry on the tradition when they reboot Kingston’s co-ed youth boxing program at the former armory at 467 Broadway.

The most recent chapter of Kingston’s longtime connection to youth boxing was a PAL program that ran in the Billy Costello Gym at the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center from 2006 until it shut down in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Costello was born and raised in Kingston and had a successful amateur career that included taking the title the Chicago vs. New York Golden Gloves in 1978. He was selected for the USA National Team but chose to pursue a professional career rather than compete in the Olympics. As a professional, Costello accumulated an impressive 40-2 record.

In 1984 and 1985 —during boxing’s second Golden Age when champion fighters could take their pick of glamorous venues from Las Vegas to London — Costello chose to defend his title at the neighborhood center. After his retirement, Costello when he returned to Kingston. He lived in Midtown, worked in construction and acted as a mentor to city youth.

Costello himself helped found the PAL program and trained fighters there until his death in 2011. During that period, the Kingston PAL hosted tournaments featuring elite boxing teams from Northern Ireland, Canada and several Native American tribes and organized a popular Friday Night Fights programs.

Earlier this year the city issued a request for proposals seeking a USA Boxing-certified organization to restart the program at the Murphy Center. On Thursday, Mayor Steve Noble announced that a youth boxing program will begin in September, run by Billy Costello’s brothers Vinnie and Glenn and his son Brandon. All three men are USA Boxing-certified trainers with decades of experience between them.

Vinny Costello followed in his brother’s footsteps as an amateur and professional fighter earning three Golden Gloves titles and compiling a 21-2-1 record in a professional career that included top-of-the-card bouts at Madison Square Garden and fights against world champion boxers and future Hall of Famers. Glenn Costello trained alongside his brothers under the tutelage of their father Bill and participated in all of Billy Costello’s training camps. Brandon Costello trained in boxing under his father and currently works with incarcerated youth as a member of Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.

“We are thrilled to relaunch Kingston’s legendary boxing program at the recently renovated Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center,” Mayor Steve Noble said in a statement. “Together, Vinnie, Glenn, and Brandon Costello have multiple generations of boxing experience, championship-level knowledge, coaching expertise, and youth mentorship. We look forward to carrying this storied program forward.”

The new boxing center is open to youth aged 13-18. Starting on Sept. 14 sessions will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 6p.m. to 8p.m. at the Billy Costello gym at the Murphy center. To register, go to www.kingston.recdesk.com/Community/Home Contact Andre Dassie with questions at adassie@kingston-ny.gov or (845) 481-7331.