Jimmy LuValle: Difference between revisions

'''James Ellis LuValle''' (November 10, 1912 – January 30, 1993) was an [[United States|American]] athlete and scientist. He won the bronze medal in the [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics - Men's 400 metres|400 metres]] at the [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Summer Olympics]], and was an accomplished chemist and founder of the Graduate Students Association at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA).<ref>{{cite web|title=GSA: A Brief History |url=http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/briefing-room/about/history |work=About UCLA GSA |publisher=UCLA Graduate Students Association |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225115345/http://gsa.asucla.ucla.edu/briefing-room/about/history |archive-date=25 December 2012 }}</ref>

LuValle was African-American. He was born on November 10, 1912, in [[San Antonio|San Antonio, TX]]. His family lived for a while in [[Washington, D.C.]], before moving to [[Los Angeles|Los Angeles, CA]] while LuValle was in elementary school. He competed in track and field at [[John H. Francis Polytechnic High School|LA Polytechnic High School]] (later renamed John H. Francis Polytechnic High School), while working as a page for the [[Los Angeles Public Library]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hodak|first=George A.|title=An Olympian's Oral History|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|publisher=Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles|access-date=23 December 2012|archive-date=5 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505020755/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

He enrolled at [[UCLA]] in 1931, turning down athletic scholarships to the [[University of Southern California]] (USC) and the [[University of Notre Dame]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Hodak|first=George A.|title=An Olympian's Oral History|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|publisher=Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles|access-date=23 December 2012|pages=3–4|date=June 1988|archive-date=5 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505020755/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Nicknamed the "Westwood Whirlwind," he was the captain of the track and field team. In 1934 he ran 20.8 seconds for 220y, with [[Bob Kiesel]] and [[Foy Draper]] being the only sprinters in the world to match LuValle's time that year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jimmy LuValle |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/lu/jimmy-luvalle-1.html |work=Sports Reference: Olympic Sports |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218052953/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/lu/jimmy-luvalle-1.html |archive-date=18 December 2012 }}</ref>

Despite his athletic prowess, he admitted his main focus was always academics. He did not have an athletic scholarship, given UCLA did not award track scholarships back then.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hodak|first=George A.|title=An Olympian's Oral History|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|publisher=Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles|access-date=23 December 2012|pages=4|archive-date=5 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505020755/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHLuValle.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> He paid his way through school with a [[Regents' Scholarship]] and a job in the chemistry lab. He made friends with future [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Laureate]] [[Glenn T. Seaborg]] who was his teaching assistant for one class. He graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in chemistry in June 1936, having had a straight-A average. He also won the Jake Gimball Award for most outstanding all-around senior.<ref>{{cite web|title=The man behind the building name: James E. LuValle|url=http://www.spotlight.ucla.edu/alumni/james-luvalle_biography/|work=UCLA Spotlight|publisher=UCLA Marketing and Communications|access-date=23 December 2012|date=February 12, 2007|archive-date=10 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210132943/http://www.spotlight.ucla.edu/alumni/james-luvalle_biography/|url-status=live}}</ref>

LuValle won the 400 meters at the Western Olympic Trials with a time of 46.3, his lifetime best.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jimmy LuValle |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/lu/jimmy-luvalle-1.html |work=Sports Reference: Olympic Sports |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218052953/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/lu/jimmy-luvalle-1.html |archive-date=18 December 2012 }}</ref> At the final [[1936 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)|Olympic Trials]] he placed third in 46.9, qualifying for the Olympic Games in Berlin.<ref name="hymans">{{cite web |url=https://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf |title=The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field |author=Hymans, Richard |publisher=[[USA Track & Field]] |year=2008 |access-date=October 20, 2015 |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123060342/http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|80}} In the Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the 400&nbsp;m with a time of 46.8 seconds on August 7. He came up behind American [[Archie Williams]] and [[Godfrey Brown (athlete)|Godfrey Brown]] of the United Kingdom.

He returned to UCLA in the fall of the same year to pursue a masters in chemistry and physics. He observed that graduate students were not interacting much with people outside their department, and that there needed to be an organization to bring them together. He took up the issue directly with [[Vern Knudsen]], dean of the Graduate Council of the UC Academic Senate. Knudsen supported the establishment of the Associated Graduate Students, independent of the already-existing Associated Students UCLA ([[ASUCLA]]), which served undergraduates. It was later renamed the Graduate Students Association, and absorbed as a branch of ASUCLA, acting as the official student government for graduates. LuValle was also selected the ASG's first president.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dundjerski|first=Marina|title=UCLA: The First Century|year=2011|publisher=Third Millennium Publishing Limited|location=London|isbn=978-1-906507-37-4|pages=70|chapter="Boastfulness in California":1929-1936}}</ref>

In 1937, he was awarded his Master of Arts. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. in chemistry and mathematics in 1940 from the [[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech), under the guidance of Nobel Laureate [[Linus Pauling]]. He was the first [[African Americans|African American]] to receive a Ph.D. from Caltech.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goins|first=Edray|title=The History of Caltech's Underrepresented Students|url=https://www.math.purdue.edu/~egoins/notes/caltechs_minorities.pdf|access-date=2024-05-26|archive-date=2021-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507012123/https://www.math.purdue.edu/~egoins/notes/caltechs_minorities.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

He taught from 1940–1941 at [[Fisk University]]. From 1941–1942, he began working at [[Eastman Kodak]] Laboratories, becoming the first African American to work there. From 1942–1943, he helped with the war effort by working for the [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]] (OSRD). He returned to Kodak as Senior Chemist, which he served as until 1953.<ref>{{cite web|title=James Ellis Lu Valle: Chemist|url=https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/luvalle.html#Times|work=The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences|access-date=24 December 2012|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918175442/https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/luvalle.html#Times|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From 1953–1959, he was Project Director at Technical Operations, Inc. Then he became Director of Basic Research at [[Fairchild Camera and Instrument|Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation]]. He later worked at [[SMC Corporation]] and [[Smith Corona|Smith Corona Marchant]] before settling down as Laboratory Administrator for the chemistry department at [[Stanford University]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fikes|first=Robert|title=Lu Valle, James E.(1912–1993)|url=http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/lu-valle-james-e-1912-1993|publisher=BlackPast.org|access-date=24 December 2012|archive-date=29 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029070611/http://blackpast.org/?q=aah/lu-valle-james-e-1912-1993|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=James Ellis Lu Valle: Chemist|url=https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/luvalle.html#Times|work=The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences|access-date=24 December 2012|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918175442/https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/luvalle.html#Times|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He died January 30, 1993, while on vacation in [[Te Anau]], [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/930216Arc3404.html|title=NEWS RELEASE {{!}} Chemist James Lu Valle dies at 80|date=February 16, 1993|accessdate=February 25, 2020|archive-date=February 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200225110751/https://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/930216Arc3404.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1985, ASUCLA named its new student center LuValle Commons in his honor. Unlike the Ackerman Student Union at the campus center, it is more catered to graduate students, selling law and business textbooks. It contains Jimmy's Coffee House, and a food location called Jimmy's Kitchen. Los Angeles Mayor [[Tom Bradley (American politician)|Tom Bradley]], who spoke at the dedication ceremony, cited LuValle as an inspiration, for being able to follow in his footsteps as a track star at LA Poly and at UCLA, as well as for being able to overcome racial barriers to achieve his political aspirations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dundjerski|first=Marina|title=UCLA: The First Century|year=2011|publisher=Third Millennium Publishing Limited|location=London|isbn=978-1-906507-37-4|pages=70|chapter="Boastfulness in California":1929-1936}}</ref> In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including LuValle, was documented in the film ''[[Olympic Pride, American Prejudice]]''.<ref name="Henderson 2016">{{cite web | last=Henderson | first=Odie | title=Olympic Pride, American Prejudice movie review (2016) | website=RogerEbert.com | date=2016-08-05 | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/olympic-pride-american-prejudice-2016 | access-date=2021-04-11 | archive-date=2021-04-11 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411224420/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/olympic-pride-american-prejudice-2016 | url-status=live }}</ref>