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.

[3] 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.

[citation needed] After a stint in the United States Navy during World War II, during which he served in the Pacific Theater,[3] Valenti returned to Corvallis in 1946 as an assistant to Gill.

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 transferred from Monterey Junior College in California.

[7] 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.