Paul Valenti was born in San Francisco, California, in 1920, to Italian immigrants, and grew up in Mill Valley, California. He attended Tamalpais High School. A dedicated athlete, Valenti played basketball throughout college, and was recruited to play for the Oregon State Beavers under Coach Amory “Slats” Gill. Valenti played varsity basketball from 1939-1942. He joined the Navy in 1942, and served as a dental technician. Valenti became Coach Gill’s assistant coach in 1946. He completed a Master's in Education from Oregon State College in 1957, writing a thesis on the history of basketball at Oregon State College from 1928-1949.
When Coach Gill retired from coaching in 1964, Paul Valenti, his assistant coach of eighteen years, took over as head. During Valenti’s first season of coaching, he led Oregon State to sixteen wins and ten losses, coming in fourth in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU) conference. This was also the first season for Charlie White, the first African American player recruited on scholarship to the team, and the second African American to play for Oregon State basketball.
Valenti’s second season began with a win over the University of Portland on December 1, 1965. This was followed by a non-conference road trip to the University of Nebraska, the United States Naval Academy, and Villanova University--which resulted in three losses for the Beavers. Afterwards, as the season picked up, Oregon State went through multiple five-game win streaks, ending with a total of twenty-one wins and seven losses. The team came in first in the AAWU conference, beating John Wooden-led UCLA, which was the first time in years the Bruins didn't make the conference championship. Oregon State advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, defeating the Elvin Hayes-led University of Houston by three points. A day later, OSU saw their final five-game winning streak come to an end with a six-point loss (70-64) to the University of Utah, thus concluding their exciting journey to the Elite Eight of the 1966 NCAA basketball tournament.
Star players from the season were sophomore forward Loy Petersen, who averaged 12.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and guard Charlie White, who averaged 11.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In total, Petersen scored 359 points over the course of the season, and White scored 326.
In the seasons that followed, Valenti did not see as much success on the court. Valenti retired in 1970, after six seasons as head coach, fearing that his coaching style was too hard-nosed for new players. He remained at Oregon State until his retirement in 1982, holding the position of Assistant Athletic Director. He also coached the tennis team from 1971-1975. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, and, eight years later, into the OSU Hall of Fame. Valenti passed away in September 2014, at the age of 94.
Author: Katy Roach
