A 1966 graduate of Ithaca College, George Valesente completed his 41st year at the helm of his alma mater in 2019. Valesente, who was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2005, reached another milestone by recording the 1,000th win of his coaching career during the 2012 season, and in 2014 earned induction to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. During the 2015 campaign, Valesente earned his 1,000th career win as Ithaca's head coach on March 14, and 1,100th overall on April 18. On May 5, 2018, Valesente picked up his 1,100th win at IC against Wells College and his son, David.
Valesente, who has coached the Bombers since 1979, is now 1,136-507-8 at Ithaca in 41 seasons. His overall coaching record, which also includes stints at Brockport (20-13), New Paltz (25-14) and Maritime (15-13), is 1,196-547-8 in 47 seasons.
During Valesente’s college athletic career, he lettered in soccer, basketball and baseball and played on NCAA playoff teams in all three sports. In three varsity basketball seasons, he scored 745 points, and at the time of his graduation, he ranked third on the all-time school scoring list. Valesente’s success carried over to baseball, where he set school single-game records for at-bats (seven) and runs scored (five).
From Ithaca, Valesente entered the professional baseball ranks. He spent four seasons in the minors, advancing as far as the Triple A level with the International League’s Buffalo Bisons, the top farm team of the Washington Senators, in 1969.
Following his playing career, Valesente coached baseball at Brockport and at New Paltz for two seasons each. He was baseball and soccer coach at Maritime for two years before returning to Ithaca in 1978 to take his current post.
Valesente has guided the Bombers to two national championships (1980 and 1988), 10 World Series appearances and 35 NCAA postseason berths in all. His teams have never had a losing season and have won nearly 70 percent of their games. The Bombers have captured 27 league titles and four runner-up finishes during Valesente’s career. Ithaca has won 17 of the 20 Empire 8 titles.
Valesente has coached 31 All-Americans and 42 players who have signed professional baseball contracts.
He has been honored many times for his coaching accomplishments. The Ithaca Journal selected Valesente as its male Coach of the Year in 1980, 1988 and 2013. He was voted the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Division III Coach of the Year in 1980 and 1988 and he earned district coach of the year recognition in 1980, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994 and 2013. In 2012, he was named D3baseball.com's inaugural NCAA New York Region Coach of the Year and earned his eighth Empire 8 Coach of the Year award. He repeated as New York Region Coach of the Year and Empire 8 Coach of the Year in 2013. Valesente would once again be named Empire 8 Coach of the Year in 2019, which was the 11th of his career.
He has extensive experience at the highest level of professional organizations, capped by three terms as a member of the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee. Valesente also served three terms with the NCAA regional committee. He spent six years on the ABCA All-America committee and represented Division III as the Division III chairman on the ABCA Executive Board. Valesente has been active with USA Baseball, spending three years on the U.S. Baseball Federation Senior Olympic Team Preparation Committee, serving as business manager for USA Baseball's International Cup Tournament in Taiwan and coordinating clinic sessions in Columbia.
Valesente’s brother, Bob ’62 (another member of Ithaca's Hall of Fame), was a long-time assistant coach in the National Football League. His daughter Christine and his son David were both Division I athletes; Christine played ice hockey at Clarkson and David, was a baseball player at St. Joseph's, as well as a professional player within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
6/17/19
