Bill Kehaly, an ’82 Finance major, demonstrated Warrior spirit as Publications Commissioner, Signal Business Manager, Warrior Day Committee member, Student Union member and President of Associated Students from 1981 to 1982.

Coming from J.E. McAteer High School in San Francisco, it took Kehaly a couple of years to find his place at CSU Stanislaus. That is, until he met Dr. Cherukuri, professor of Finance. “My fondest memory of CSU Stanislaus was spending Warrior Day with friends and learning the true value of hard work from Dr. Rao Cherukuri.”

Kehaly’s natural free spirit, strong work ethic, and willingness to think outside the box, led to his first great adventure in the early 1990s. The idea to improve Major League Baseball came in the form of a pen-based charting system, replacing the old manual pitch charting system. “What we’re looking for,” said Robert Schweppe, Administrator of Baseball Operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers, “are tools to improve player performance and enhance player confidence. Bill’s system is fast, easy, and gives us the edge we need to compete against clubs that are getting more technologically sophisticated every day.”

Kehaly has sold his new system to seven Major League Baseball teams, 20 colleges, USA Baseball, and USA Softball. He later took the concept and adapted it for use by two National Hockey League teams.

For Bill Kehaly, Spirit is also a racing vehicle that drives itself without human or remote control. Kehaly is General Manager of Axion, LLC and the team leader and sponsor of Axion Racing. In 2005, Spirit was one of only five teams to complete all runs at the 2005 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge National Qualifying Event in Fontana, California.

The DARPA race is part of the Pentagon’s effort to fulfill a congressional mandate to have one third of all military ground vehicles unmanned by 2015. Two of the other teams included H1ghlander, a converted Humvee Sandstorm created by Carnegie Mellon University; a modified Volkswagen Touareg by Stanford University; and Spirit, Kehaly’s former Jeep Grand Cherokee complete with surf boards on top.