Onesti was a ninth round draft pick of the Houston Oilers in 1962 and played four seasons in the AFL.

Onesti attended Assumption College High School in Windsor, Ontario, where he began to play football.

Onesti wrote and presented numerous research papers and pursued projects in Russia, China, Mexico, Japan and throughout the United States.

He also served as a consultant to the Navajo Nation on mine restoration in Tsaile, Arizona, and as an evaluator of avalanche activity and dynamics for the Alyeska Pipeline in Anchorage, Alaska.

In 1992, he was invited by the government of the Kyrgyz Republic (former Soviet Union) to serve as a geological evaluator.