He portrayed Jimmy Chitwood, a basketball player who makes a last-second shot to win the 1952 Indiana state high school championship.
Although Valainis had been cut each of the three times he tried out for his own high school basketball team, he impressed the filmmakers enough that he was invited back the next day to read lines.
He landed a few small roles, one of them being Scott Thorson in the TV biopic Liberace (1988), before turning his attention to golf.
[1] Valainis had been an all-state golfer at Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis, Indiana,[3] as well as a member of the golf team at Purdue University.
After giving up on acting, he began a career in golf course management,[1] including working as a caddie for professional golfers.