October 2, 1986, was a great day of sadness for members of the OSU alumni family. It was the day F. Wayne Valley passed away in his home in Piedmont, Calif., after a long bout with cancer.

Classmates remembered him for his days at Oregon State Agricultural College (OSAC) in the mid-1930s, when, as an Oakland, Calif., walk-on for Lon Stiner's football squad, he had earned starting roles as a tough fullback and linebacker. He was also an outstanding javelin thrower on the track team.

Later alumni remembered him for his success as one of the nation's leading construction contractors, as well as a founder of the Oakland Raiders professional football team and president of the American Football League.

And everyone remembered him for his generosity and loving concern for the betterment of OSU. Together with his wife, Gladys Leibbrand Valley, '33, Wayne Valley left a legacy at Oregon State that will live forever, through gifts from the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation that have established everything from scholarships and student aid, to sports, endowed professorships, and educational and research facilities.

What few remembered about him, however, is that, technically speaking, he was and is not an Oregon Stater, not according to his diploma. How can this be, for someone with such a deep place in his heart for OSU?

Valley, it turns out, was one of a large group of OSAC students in the '30s who faced a dilemma. It was the Depression, money was tight, and the State Board of Higher Education felt it couldn't afford duplicate degree programs operating all over the state. Both Oregon State and the University of Oregon offered degrees in the sciences and business. Under the new plan, the sciences would remain in Corvallis, while most business programs would have to go…go south, that is, to Eugene.

As a business major, he and other affected OSAC students were shocked over the board's decision. To stay a Beaver he would have to switch majors, to something in science or agriculture. His only other alternative was to transfer. Dutifully, he did so. However, few Beavers in OSU's history, as we will soon see, have had more orange in their blood than Wayne and Gladys Valley.

One of the small ironies in the Valley family history centers on the ties Gladys had to Oregon State. After completing her studies at OSAC in 1933, she became the first secretary of what was then the School of Science and stayed with the job until her marriage to Wayne in 1940.

After concluding his studies at the UO, Wayne and Gladys moved to Portland, where he took a job as an accountant with an oil company. In the meantime, his mother began urging them to move back to Oakland and the Bay Area. A housing boom was on, she told them, and convinced the two that moving home would be a great long-term investment for business prospects and a career.

They took her advice, in a move that proved historic. Twenty-five years later, Valley was hailed as a giant among the nation's real estate developers and investors.

In 1940 he became a self-employed contractor. His firm built thousands of homes throughout the U. S., particularly in California. In 1971, his firm Besco Builders merged with Singer Housing Co., a subsidiary of the Singer (sewing machine) Co., to become one of the largest home building firms in the country. In addition to being principal owner of the Raiders, Valley served for one year as president of the American Football League and was on the executive and finance committees of the National Football League.

Despite an extremely busy "national" schedule and ever stronger ties to California, the Valleys always found time for OSU. They attended Beaver games, reunions and other functions, and stayed in contact with former classmates. Many was the time their private jet would have them at Parker Stadium for a football game on Saturday, off to some Eastern city for a Raider game on Sunday, then back to the office in California for Monday meetings.

Both Wayne and Gladys were members of the Council of Regents of the OSU Foundation. They became members of the OSU President's Club in 1970 when they established the Patrick Wayne Valley Memorial Scholarship Fund, bestowed in honor of their second son, an OSU graduate and Beaver football player, who lost his life in a 1969 swimming accident.

In 1971, the Valleys donated Singer stock to further the scholarship endowment and to create a fund for the rugby program. In 1972, they again donated to Beaver athletics to help build the Patrick Wayne Valley track facility, recently removed to make room for OSU's new softball stadium.

In 1977, the Valleys established the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation.

Late in 1985, Wayne and Gladys presented to the OSU Foundation a gift of Singer stock valued at more than $1 million. This was to help meet a challenge for private funds set by the National Endowment for the Humanities when it chose the OSU Center for the Humanities as recipient of $700,000 to help fund the program, the second largest grant ever presented by the NEH to a land-grant university.

Early in 1986, the Northern California chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame presented its first Distinguished American Award to Wayne Valley. In addition to his football success, he was recognized for his "service to his fellow man and contributions to the American ideal."

It was also noted that "he cares about his family, people, his community, and sports. He is a great businessman and philanthropist…literally thousands of individuals' lives have been touched by this man."

In reporting on the death of Wayne Valley, the Oakland Tribune wrote that "it was his pioneering spirit, sense of fair play, gruff manner, and big heart that endeared Wayne Valley to those who knew him."

Gladys Valley passed away on May 26, 1998, at age 91, thus ending an association with her alma mater that spanned 70 years. After her husband's death, she became chair of the foundation that bears their name and continued to fulfill public needs with private gifts. Through her leadership as trustee of the OSU Foundation, she helped provide endowments and major gifts for numerous programs and activities, including the establishment of the Wayne and Gladys Valley Endowed Professorship in Marine Biology, a Marine Mammal Research Professorship, construction of the Valley Football Center, and the Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center, and a $10 million dollar gift in 1995 to expand the Valley Library.

Said Fred Horne, then dean of science at OSU, on her passing: "Gladys was a unique person, dedicated to education, dedicated to people. I will miss her personal interest in the College of Science and in the whole university. She was a wonderful person."

Former OSU President John Byrne said at the time that Gladys Valley was a true Beaver and supporter of OSU from the time she was a student until her death. "She took great delight in convincing people from California how important OSU was and what a fine institution it is," he said. "Clearly her generosity to her alma mater is something very few have been able to match. She had an attitude that was very, very positive toward Oregon State and the wherewithal to make contributions in support of that attitude."

In addition to her son, Patrick Wayne, '69, and husband, she was preceded in death by a daughter, Sonya A. Valley Ghidossi. She is survived by a daughter, Tamara A. Valley, a son, Michael W. Valley, seven grandchildren, including Wade Westhoff, '93, one great-grandson, and a legacy of love and philanthropy she shared with her husband for Oregon State University that will live in perpetuity.

Francis Valley