Career
His early career, however, was not successful, until Vladas Garastas took the head coach"s post in 1979. Garastas immediately took a liking in him and put him in the starting five. He naturally became a leader, and stayed one even after Arvydas Sabonis came to the team in 1981.
In a match in 1986, when Žalgiris was playing against Petrović"s Cibona Zagreb, and Sabonis fouled out, Čivilis took over and led his team to defeat Cibona 94:91.
In 1988, he left Žalgiris, played briefly for a Slovakian basketball club, and retired soon afterwards. In 2000, Čivilis died of tuberculosis.
