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- Year:
- 1966-1968
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- Sports Played:
- Men's Basketball Athlete
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- Induction Year:
- 1993
Bio
It's been well over half a century since John Vallely starred for Orange Coast, but knowledgeable basketball fans would quickly rage that he is the greatest player to ever put on a Pirate uniform. John remains OCC's all-time leading scorer (no one else is close) with a career total of 1,538 points. As a freshman in 1966-67, the 6-2 forward averaged 20.2 points per game, establishing an OCC scoring record he smashed the following season by averaging 25.98 ppg. Fifteen times he scored 30 or more points in a game. He set the OCC single-game record by scoring 44 in a 1968 contest against Mt. San Antonio. He's also the school's all-time leading rebounder with 642. He went onto star for two seasons for John Wooden at UCLA, where he played with Bruin greats Lew Alcindor, Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe and was part of two national championship clubs. Named an All-American and captain of the 1970 teams, he was drafted later that year by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round. He played with Atlanta and the Houston Rockets through the 1973 season. The co-founder of the Newport Ski Company, Vallely is now a successful businessman who live with his family in Newport Beach.
