A native Tennessean, Bill joined our Classmates, Al Blumberg and Charlie Coolidge, to become the first cadets to enter the Academy from their hometown of Chattanooga. For his first two years at the Academy, Bill was a member of 1st Squadron before moving to 3rd Squadron as part of the “third-class shuffle.” While at the Academy, Bill consistently beat the Dean and was also named to the Superintendent’s List.
          At graduation, Bill received the Col. Paul D. Brosman award as the Outstanding Cadet in Law. Thereafter, he served as a Procurement Officer, at McConnell AFB, Kansas, before entering law school at the University of North Carolina, under the Air Force’s excess-leave program. After receiving his Juris Doctor Degree in 1972, Bill was assigned as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate, for the 12th Flying Training Wing, Randolph AFB, Texas, where he tried a variety of courts martial and administrative board proceedings. In 1974, Bill was selected for the Air Force’s advanced legal degree program. He attended Yale Law School, where he received his LL.M. Degree in environmental law. Following his graduation from Yale, Bill was assigned to the General Litigation Division of the Office of The Judge Advocate General, in Washington, D.C. There, he was responsible for the defense of all Air Force federal court litigation involving environmental and real-estate related matters.
           In 1978, Bill separated from active duty and joined the Denver-based law firm of Holland & Hart, LLP. Over the course of the next 35+ years, Bill practiced commercial litigation, where he tried literally hundreds of cases involving environmental, products liability, banking and corporate finance, ski defense, securities and antitrust matters. Professionally, Bill was a member of the American Bar Association, National Lawyers Association (Board member and Past President), Federalist Society, Defense Research Institute and the Colorado, Denver and El Paso County Bar Associations.
          Of particular interest to us have been his many years of service to our Association of Graduates as a Board member, including two terms as Vice-Chairman. In addition, for the past 10 years, Bill has served on the Board (including terms as Board Secretary) of the USAFA Endowment. Finally, Bill also has served as the Chairman of our ’68 Class Gift Committee, which (to date) has raised almost $750,000 in support of the Academy’s Cyber Competition Team.
 "After 35 years with Holland & Hart, I retired in 2013. During that time, I saw the firm grow from 55 lawyers with two offices in Colorado to 500+ lawyers with 16 offices in eight states and the District of Columbia. Throughout this period, I was especially fortunate to have an abundance of challenging work for terrific clients and to practice with (and sometimes against) some of the most talented lawyers imaginable. Although I enjoyed every minute, I realized that it was nearing time to “fade away,” when it became necessary to wear a name tag with my office location to our annual partnership meetings. After a three-month trial in Miami in 2006, I determined to ratchet back and transferred from our Denver office to our Colorado Springs office, where I was better able to manage the types of cases that I accepted. Finally, in June 2013, I received a favorable verdict in the first of the now-newsworthy talcum powder cases, and, at that point, decided ‘it's now or never.’ I decided on ‘now’ and haven't looked back. While I continue to serve on the Boards of various non-profits, my principal enjoyment is just being around family and friends, both at our summer home in Colorado Springs and at our winter home in Georgia. I am blessed in life and doubly so to count myself among the members of the USAFA Class of ’68.”

          Bill and Diana are in the process of changing their winter home from St. Simons Island to Athens, Georgia.

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