University of Nevada Athletics

Basketball & Baseball (1958-61)
Val York was a four-year basketball letterman and a three-year baseball letterman for the Wolf Pack between 1958 and 1961. A Fallon native, he attended Churchill County High School and was part of the school’s 1957 class of teams that won state championships in basketball and baseball. At Nevada, he earned All-Far Western Conference honors in basketball twice, leading the team in scoring during the 1959-60 season and in assists in both 1959-60 and 1960-61. His teams won the Far Western Conference championship in 1961 and tied for the title in 1959. He was coached by Jake Lawlor for two years and Jack Spencer for two. In baseball, York played in the infield (third base and shortstop) and was the team’s leading hitter during the 1961 season. He received the Doc Martie Award in 1961 as the outstanding male senior student-athlete. 

After graduating in 1961, York served 20 years in the U.S. Army, including two tours in Vietnam as a transportation and infantry officer and aviator. He was highly decorated for his service and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze Star and 32 air medals. He was assigned to Bozeman, Mont., in 1957 and served as deputy and later professor of military science at Montana State University. York retired from the Army in Bozeman in 1981. He passed away in 2021 in Bozeman. In addition to the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame, York was inducted into the Churchill County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.