The Costacos brothers—John and Tock—have just published a book titled Walls of Fame that displays more than 100 of their iconic sports posters and shares the stories behind them. The Foreword was written by famed ESPN announcer Chris Berman.
Shortly after publication of the book, their father, Jerry, passed away on May 8 at age 92, and the ever-clever John responded with a poster tribute to the patriarch of the Costacos clan. John had 500 printed to give away at the services at the two Greek Orthodox churches in Seattle on May 13 and 14. John had Jerry dress up as a ref in the Icky Woods poster but said, “We thought it was about time he had a poster of his own.”
The Costacos’ have produced nearly 1,000 posters, featuring prominent athletes (including more than 100 Hall of Famers), as well as the memorable “Dawg Father” poster with the late UW coach Don James.
Said John: “Whenever anyone asks what our favorite poster is, there are four or five that come to mind, depending on our mood. But the one that usually comes out on top is Kenny Easley—The Enforcer. It was our first, in 1986, so we don’t like to think that we topped out at the very beginning, but we love it because it launched such a fun business and also because we liked the way it turned out. And we think it’s pretty cool that Kenny finally got his well-deserved place in the NFL Hall of Fame.”
At a release party for the Russell Wilson poster in 2016, Wilson and two other Seahawks legends also were on hand—with their posters. Russell, by the way, shares the same birthday (Nov. 29) as John. Also at the release party, mom Eva posed with Russell and wife, Ciara.
And, finally, John figured out a way to get the upper hand on Aaron Judge during the shoot of the Yankee star’s poster.
The book is available at Amazon.com.