As a 6'2" forward for Orange Coast College, Vallely averaged 26 points per game and broke 18 scoring records. He was selected a junior collegeAll-American. He dribbled with his left hand and shot with his right hand. He was especially good at shooting an outside jump shot.
After transferring to UCLA in 1968, he became an integral member of the Bruins' backcourt in 1968. Vallely was quick to make the transition from forward to guard at UCLA. In his first season, he was the Bruins' third leading scorer (12.9 ppg) and adapted smoothly to head coach John Wooden's "attack and gamble offense".[1] He was a member of the UCLA teams that won national titles in the 1969 NCAA tournament and the 1970 NCAA tournament. Vallely majored in economics at UCLA and had a 3.36 grade point average as a junior.[1]
Vallely married Karen, a woman he met at Orange Coast College, where he studied prior to attending UCLA. They wed around the time he was selected in the NBA. The couple had two children, Eric and Erin. Erin died of a rare form of cancer of the soft muscle tissue in September 1991. Eric starred as a volleyball player while he was a student at UCLA.
Illness
Vallely was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2003. He had a single stem cell treatment which was unsuccessful. He received a second offer from a stem cell donor bank, which received a nearly exact match from a winemaker who lived near Frankfurt, Germany. This time the treatment was a success. Vallely was able to meet his donor following a two-year waiting period.[4]
