He won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 1936 Summer Olympics, and was an accomplished chemist and founder of the Graduate Students Association at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

His family lived for a while in Washington, D.C., before moving to Los Angeles, CA while LuValle was in elementary school.

In 1934 he ran 20.8 seconds for 220y, with Bob Kiesel and Foy Draper being the only sprinters in the world to match LuValle's time that year.

He made friends with future Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg who was his teaching assistant for one class.

He then went on to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry and mathematics in 1940 from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling.

He later worked at SMC Corporation and Smith Corona Marchant before settling down as Laboratory Administrator for the chemistry department at Stanford University in 1975.

[12][13] Throughout his career, his specialties were photochemistry, electron diffraction, magnetic resonance, solid state physics, and neurochemistry.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who spoke at the dedication ceremony, cited LuValle as an inspiration, for being able to follow in his footsteps as a track star at LA Poly and at UCLA, as well as for being able to overcome racial barriers to achieve his political aspirations.