Paul Bartholomew Valenti (September 10, 1920 – September 13, 2014) was an American college basketball player and coach, known for his long association with Oregon State University.

Valenti recruited and coached the first African American basketball player in Oregon State history when he added junior college transfer Charlie White to the Beaver squad for the 1964–65 season.

Valenti is a member of the Oregon State Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Hall of Honor.

Biography

Early years and collegiate career

Paul Valenti was born September 10, 1920 in San Francisco, California to an Italian immigrant couple from Mill Valley. Valenti attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley where he was a star athlete on the school's tennis and basketball teams.

Valenti enrolled at Oregon State College (OSC) in Corvallis, Oregon in September 1938, turning down an offer to play from in-state rival University of Oregon. As first-year students were prohibited from participating in varsity athletics in this era, Valenti spent the 1938–39 season on the OSC Freshman basketball team, earning his stripes as a star forward for the undefeated squad.

The 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m.) Valenti was promoted to the OSC varsity basketball team for the 1939–40 season, for which he was a "swingman," starting games at both forward and guard.

Valenti would spend three years playing for coach Slats Gill, primarily as a shooting guard, finishing his collegiate career with the 1941–42 campaign.

Coaching career

After a stint in the United States Navy during World War II, during which he served in the Pacific Theater, Valenti returned to Corvallis in 1946 as an assistant to Gill. He would remain in that position for 18 years.  

Valenti got his first taste of head coaching during the 1959–60 season as he served as interim head coach of the Beavers when Gill fell ill, leading the team to 9 victories in the 12 games that he coached.

Valenti would succeed his mentor Slats Gill as Oregon State's head coach in 1964. During his first year at the helm, Valenti broke the school's color barrier when he recruited and coached the first black scholarship basketball player at Oregon State University, Charlie White, a six-foot-three guard who transfered from Monterey Junior College in California.

Valenti had his best season in 1965–66, leading the Beavers to the AAWU (now the Pac-12 Conference) title and a berth in the 1966 NCAA Tournament, after being picked to finish last in the league.  His 1965-66 unit was the only team other than UCLA to win an AAWU/Pac-8/Pac-10 title between 1963–64 and 1978–79.

During his six full seasons as head coach, Valenti compiled a 91–82 record.

Death and legacy

Paul Valenti died on September 13, 2014 at the age of 94.

Valenti is a member of the Oregon State Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Hall of Honor.

He is the namesake of the Paul Valenti Award, an honor bestowed every year by Oregon State to the basketball player demonstrating the greatest desire and determination.

Head coaching record

References

Works
 Paul Bartholomew Valenti, History of Basketball at Oregon State College From 1928 Through 1949 (Master's thesis), Oregon State College, June 1957.

External links
Paul Valenti Oral History Interview

1920 births
2014 deaths
American men's basketball coaches
American men's basketball players
United States Navy personnel of World War II
American people of Italian descent
College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
Forwards (basketball)
Oregon State Beavers men's basketball coaches
Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players
People from Mill Valley, California
Basketball players from Marin County, California
Oregon State Beavers baseball coaches