I like Tom's comment that Bill was larger than life. I like to think of him as the straw that stirred the drink. If something was happening there was Bill right in the middle. I thought he was the greatest wrestler ever. He went through regional and state tournaments with a separated shoulder and still won every match. I saw him a half dozen times after HS. Once he flirted with my girlfriend. That was ok--it was in good fun. Another was at Florissant Valley CC where we were both taking some classes in '73 and then at the reunion in 1989, when his fun loving nature provoked him to tell me that he was sent out to collect the free drink coupons for the bar down the hall. He was delighted when I told him that I was the class designated driver and he could have mine and my wife's. I am sorry to hear he died so young. I remember looking forward to seeing him at the 2009 reunion and thinking it strange that he was not there. (Now some one will probably write me and tell me to get a vision check if he was there and I just missed him.) I hope his doctors took good care of him and he did not suffer excessively.

I was a football teammate of Bill's throughout high school. He was a tough competitor, a pretty hard nosed guy. We were friends but never terribly close. I was a round baller and he was a wrestler, a state champion at that.  
As I did with most of my high school friends, I lost track of Bill for way too many years. Somehow, Bill and I started communicating before our 40th reunion. He, Dan Green and I agreed to sit at the same table at the reunion as we had certain things in common. We did and we had a blast. Bill was always a bit larger than life and very charismatic. My wife loved meeting Bill and his wife Vicki, who was an absolute sweetheart. 
After the reunion we stayed in touch, but only infrequently. When I decided to attend the 2011 mixer he was among the first people I reached out to. I was devastated to hear of Bill's passing. 
Throughout this I learned a great lesson. The man that you become all these years later is so much more important than the boy we grew up with. Getting to know the man Bill had become only makes it tougher to realize he too is gone way too soon.

I was 8 years old when I first met Bill. We played on the same little league team. My Dad was one of the team’s coaches and it seemed Bill and I were always looking to get together. Back then you could leave home about 8:00 and nobody worried about you as long as you made it home by dinner time. Bill lived about 2 miles away and we played ball several times a week for 2 or 3 summers. When we entered the 6th grade, Bill sat next to me and then right behind me when the teacher moved Jim Harris next to me. Ms. Howard was a truly unique woman who loved children. The 3 of us tested her patience regularly, but in the end we had a great time and learned a lot. “Billy," as she called him, was always the victim of Howard’s teasing and he took it extremely well, always flashing an aw shucks grin and blushing. As we entered junior high, Billy’s athletic ability really became apparent and he excelled in football and wrestling, becoming state champ in our senior year. Through it all, he always had that grin and the same drive to excel that I first saw way back in 1959. If there is a wrestling team in heaven, I’ll bet Bill is there winning matches.

Bill was always so nice to me. As a "nobody" in HS, I admired our athletes and others. He will surely be missed.

Bill, I waited a long time to write on your wall. Bill, Grote and I had a lot of adventures, from drag racing Grote's GTX at 150 mph to the last football game vs SLUH, when we decided to go to Hearst's cabin in Warrenton. We left after a toast at the canal with half the football team at about midnight. As we crossed the bridge into St. Charles, the freezing rain turned to snow. Grote and I fell asleep, but Bill had the wheel of the pickup and I knew that l could always trust Bill! The next thing I remember was bouncing around. The truck was in the middle of a corn field--I looked outside and Bill's taking a leak!!! I ask him what the hell happened. He says, "I just couldn't wait!" I think OK and fall back to sleep. Next scene, we're at the cabin. No heat, but we don't care. We crashed hard. We were supposed to get up to deer hunt at 5 am. Bill's Dad comes into the cabin about noon to find us all asleep. He grabs some snow and puts a snowball in each of our sleeping bags. I fire out of the sack and everyone's laughing. I see corn stalks stuffed under the rear wheel of the truck. It wasn't a dream. God must have saved the three of us that night. Bill nodded off driving down Hwy 70 by what I'd now guess is the Mid-Rivers Mall turn off and the field was about 100 yards off the highway!! To Bill it was just a little detour to take a leak. We never made it to the deer stand that day but we did make a memory. I miss those days when we just went for it. Thanks, Bill.