Campbell University

Basketball All-American Don Whaley was inducted into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame in October 1992.  He starred on the 1977 team that advanced to the NAIA national tournament title game.  Named to the all-tournament squad and honorable mention All-American, Whaley helped Campbell become the first-ever unseeded team to reach the NAIA championship game.
 
As a senior forward, Whaley averaged 16.3 points as the Camels posted a 23-10 record and defeated Lincoln Memorial, Southwest Oklahoma State, Alcorn State and Henderson State in the NAIA tourney.  His 538 points still stands as the 11th-highest total in a season since Campbell moved to the senior college ranks in 1961.
 
During Whaley’s last three years in a Camel uniform, Campbell won no fewer than 23 games each season and posted a 71-20 record, which stands as the highest winning percentage (.780) over a three-year span in Fighting Camel basketball history.
 
Following graduation in 1977, Whaley went on to play professionally in Canada for one year.  He averaged 32 points per game, the second-highest total in the nation in ’78-79.  A four-sport letterwinner at South Lenoir High School in football, basketball, baseball and track, Whaley later had pro tryouts with the New Orleans Jazz of the NBA and the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.  He remained active in athletics and was named to the Class A All-World Softball team in 1980, ’82, ’83, ’84, ’86 and ’88.
 
He went on to work with the Greene County Health Department as an environmental health coordinator.
 
Whaley was inducted into the Kinston/Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame in August 2023.