Driven by perseverance and loyalty, alumnus Josh Tullis ’12 turned his Western New England experience into a lifelong connection by giving back to the community that helped shape his path on and off the field.

For Josh Tullis ’12, nothing was going to keep him from completing his Marketing and Communications degree at Western New England University (WNE). Not financial challenges that sent him home for one semester during his junior year. Not a paperwork mix-up with his internship that delayed his official graduation by more than a decade.

Nothing.

“Making that commitment, coming back—finishing what I started—meant so much to me,” said Tullis. “It was important to me to come back to Western New England, to this school, this community, this coach.”

The “coach” in question is long-time WNE men’s lacrosse coach John Klepacki, a man Tullis still considers a member of his family, a man who recently attended Tullis’ wedding.

When Tullis came to WNE from Long Island, N.Y., he did so not just for the academics. He also came to play lacrosse for Klepacki, who first saw Tullis play in a high school tournament. Tullis knew he wanted to play in college, and he was impressed by the program at WNE.

“I looked them up when I got home from the tournament,” he said. “Western New England seemed like they were at the highest level of Division III. It felt right, like it was the right fit. So, I sent the coach an email.”

Tullis got the call he had been accepted to WNE just before he took the stage to accept an award at the New York State Sales Demonstration Championship, which he won for a company he had started called Quik Stik Lacrosse, that combined his two loves: business and lacrosse.

“People from all over the country would send me their lacrosse heads, and I would customize them,” he said. “I was doing that pretty much all throughout high school.”

Coming to WNE and being part of this community was life-changing for Tullis. His father passed away when he was a senior in high school, leaving him, his mother, and his sisters on their own on Long Island. He said they all felt a little lost that year, without much structure.

Being part of the WNE men’s lacrosse team gave him a little of that structure back.

“We were a very regimented lacrosse team,” he said. “I didn’t have a regimented life at home. Then I’m up here, on my own, and I have to figure this out. I have to practice at six. I have to get into the weight room. I have to impress the coach. I have to figure all this stuff out, kind of on my own. And I think it worked.”

He credits his team and coaches for getting him through tough times.

“When you’re on a team, it’s an immediate group of people on your side,” said Tullis. “It’s a group of people with the same interests as you, the same schedule as you. But even beyond that team, I have a lot of friends who didn’t play lacrosse. I had the football friend, I had the golf friend, a tennis friend. I had a collection of different sports groups and different people who were my friend group. Not just solely the lacrosse team.”

Even after graduating, Tullis stayed within the sports world. Now, as an account executive with Metro Team Sports, he continues his relationship with WNE on multiple levels, not the least of which is making sure all WNE athletes are properly outfitted with uniforms and apparel.

“Western New England is my number one customer, probably my biggest customer that I personally deal with,” said Tullis. “Western New England gave me my first big, all-in contract. They hadn’t had one before. But I know this school. I know the teams and the coaches. I know what they like. I know what they don’t like. Walking in the Healthful Living Center (HLC)—it feels like home.”

“It’s amazing to go from being a student there to someone who is helping on the other side. Other people sell what I sell. Other people do what I do. But there is a sort of family feeling going back and talking to those people and working with those coaches and working with those colors. I care what that Golden Bear looks like. It’s still a big part of my life.”

He also makes sure he gives back to WNE athletes personally, understanding just how important it is to be able to wear the school colors with pride.

“Being philanthropically connected to the school is meaningful to me,” he said. “Every athlete, after their first year, goes home with gear, and everybody compares what they got. But not everyone is getting the same amount or the same kind of gear from their programs. I want to make sure that the financial investment from the student athletes here is as low as it can possibly be for them to get all the things they need. That’s the key role for me in this school.”

Tullis emphasizes that philanthropy is more than having your name on the side of a building. It’s about contributing in ways that positively impact the students walking through those halls–and running up and down the fields–every day. He is thankful to all those who made his years at WNE possible, and he is proud that he can give back to the next generation of students.

Uniforms and merchandise are not the only ways Tullis stays connected to WNE. He also remains in close contact with former teammates, coaches, and others within the University’s lacrosse program through the alumni network.

He notes there is a group chat filled with former WNE men’s lacrosse players and others that continues to grow each year. Acknowledging that those are the people and the connections that he still counts on both personally and professionally. And they all set aside time to come together to honor and revere their former coach, who holds a special place in all their hearts and who is still coaching the team today.

Once a year, many of these former lacrosse players return to the field for WNE’s alumni game, including Tullis.

“Because of that connection, we still show up,” he shared. “Our alumni game gets a lot of people coming back every year. It’s unique. We still get everybody coming back, everybody donating, everybody caring. It’s a tight community.”

During that game, Tullis and others seek out current students looking for advice and guidance on internships, career opportunities, or life in general.

“We’ll find out who’s studying business, who’s studying this, who’s studying that,” he said. “We have an impressive alumni base that can help students.”

Tullis enjoys helping, especially since he knows too well what it feels like to be a student who doesn’t know what is coming next, worried about the future and how to make it through to graduation. After the first semester of his junior year, he realized he would not be able to return for the remainder of the school year, as they had missed a critical financial aid deadline. Ultimately disqualifying him for loans and making it challenging to afford the semester’s tuition.

“So, I stayed home that spring and started working in a lacrosse shop. But I kept texting [Coach Klepacki]. I kept working out. And I made a promise to come back. But I jumped into the workforce halfway through my college career, not knowing if I was ever really going back. Maybe this was it. But I said I was going to come back, and I did.”

Today, Tullis remains a familiar face on campus, whether he is playing in the alumni game, meeting with coaches about uniforms, or chatting with student athletes about their futures.

“When I come back for the alumni game, I’m starting to see that the whole sideline is filled with guys that are five, six, seven years younger than me,” he said. “That just shows how Coach Klepacki is still creating an environment where guys want to come back to campus and be involved.”

“It means a lot and shows the young kids who just got to campus how special this place is. They don’t know yet what it’s like to be a part of this community, so having that many guys committed to coming back every year, it’s important.”