Bobby Valesente played college football at Ithaca College and spent more than 35 years as a football coach. After leaving Ithaca, he played baseball in the Chicago Cubs minor league organization and in the Pioneer League.

Valesente began his coaching career in 1964 as the coach of the freshman football team at Cornell University. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he made stops through collegiate programs, the NFL, and amateur football in Europe.