Paul Whalley ’75 has made a significant impact to Westfield State as a player, coach and contributor.
 
Whalley was a standout defender/midfielder and a two-year captain for the Westfield State championship soccer teams of the early 1970s, including the 1974 squad that placed third in the nation in the NCAA Division III championships his senior season. During his four years Westfield posted a brilliant record of 56-14-7, participated in two NCAA Tournaments, one ECAC Tournament and captured three Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) championships.
 
Whalley also played two years of intercollegiate baseball and volleyball and was the Owls’ second leading hitter with a .333 batting average as a freshman starting second baseman. During his senior year at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, Whalley was an All-Western Mass. first team second baseman and the soccer squad’s most valuable player.
 
Whalley returned to Westfield State in 1997 as the men’s soccer head coach and quickly resurrected the program that had posted only one winning season in the previous eight years. He was named the 1997 conference coach of the year in leading the Owls to a 13-4-1 record and their first MASCAC championship in 17 years.
 
Whalley also guided Westfield State to the MASCAC title in 2000, along with its first NCAA Tournament berth in 16 years, when his team posted a 15-5 record and advanced to the NCAA second round of the with a 3-2 opening-round victory over Roger Williams in Bristol, R.I.
 
Under Whalley’s watch, the Owls also participated in two ECAC Tournaments, including a runner-up finish in 2001. During his six-year coaching tenure, Westfield compiled a 63-40-6 record against a demanding schedule of nationally-ranked opponents; the Owls were ranked in the top 10 in New England four of those years.
 
More than a decade prior to his successful Westfield State stint, Whalley was the head coach at Chicopee High School from 1979-84 and his 1983 team captured the Division I boys’ soccer state championship.
 
Whalley was a physical education teacher for eight years and a fifth and sixth grade math and science teacher for three years before becoming sales manager at Whalley Computer Associates (WCA) in Southwick. Since 1987 he has been vice president of WCA, one of the leading solution providers in the United States. WCA is ranked in the top one tenth of one percent (200 out of 200,000) of all solution providers in the United States, and it is the largest supplier of Lenovo computers in the country.
 
After more than 25 years in the industry, customers, manufactures and technology publications consistently seek his knowledge, experience and vision. Whalley is the only person in the technology industry to receive the President’s Award twice from Synnex (Vamex), the third largest distributor of technology products in the world.

Whalley honed his entrepreneur skills when he started Whalley’s Studio of Photography to pay for his college education. The part-time business prospered for 12 years and included taking photographs of Westfield State varsity sports teams.
 
Whalley has also made considerable financial contributions to Westfield State throughout the years and is a corporate sponsor of the Owl varsity athletics program. He was honored as the Westfield State Alumnus of the Year in 2000.
 
Whalley and his wife, Bonnie, also a 1975 Westfield State graduate, reside in Southwick and have three children: Melissa (35), Christopher (33) and Kimberly (30). They have five grandchildren ranging from 2 to 10 years old.