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LuValle won the bronze medal in the [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics-Men's 400 metres|400 metres]] in the [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Summer Olympics]] held in Berlin.
He was also an accomplished chemist, and the 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|accessdate=24 December 2012}}</ref>
==Early life and education==
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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|accessdate=23 December 2012}}</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|accessdate=23 December 2012|pages=
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|accessdate=23 December 2012|pages=4}}</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|accessdate=23 December 2012|date=February 12
==Olympics and later education==
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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]].
==Career==
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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|accessdate=24 December 2012}}</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|accessdate=24 December 2012}}</ref>
Throughout his career, his specialties were photochemistry, electron diffraction, magnetic resonance, solid state physics, and neurochemistry. His research on color photography resulted in three U.S. patents.
He died January 30, 1993 while on vacation in [[Te Anau]], [[New Zealand]].
==Legacy==
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]], 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>
==References==
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[[Category:Olympic track and field athletes of the United States]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[de:James LuValle]]
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