William Ronald (Bill) Norwood was born in Centralia, Illinois. He attended Lincoln Elementary and Centralia Township High Schools. Bill graduated from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1959 with a degree in chemistry. He was also quarterback of the football team being the first Black in that position. Bill received his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1974 with an emphasis in International Labor Relations.
Bill served in the United States Air Force from 1959-1965, flying primarily the B-52. He joined United Airlines in 1965 where he flew all cockpit positions and many different airplanes. In February, 1996, having reach the mandatory retirement age of 60, Bill retired from United as a DC-10 Captain after an outstanding and exemplary 31 year career.
Bill is a former member of the SIU Board of Trustees having served in that capacity for 27 years (1974-2001). He is a member of the Airline Pilots Association and is active with The Organization of Black Airline Pilots (OBAP), where he has served multi-terms as treasurer, president, and chairman of the Board. In honor of his achievements in aviation and education, and his thirty-one years of dedicated service to United Airlines, on February 6, 1996, his name was painted on a United Airlines aircraft (B-727) at Chicago”s Museum of Science and Industry.
Bill continues to be active in the community. He was co-organizer and an instructor for the Southern Illinois Flight Academy, a basic flight training camp for young people in the Carbondale area (2003-2006). Bill is a member of the Archer-Ragsdale Arizona Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. and he currently spends time mentoring, tutoring, visiting schools, and giving motivational and career talks. He is active in his church, First United Methodist Carbondale. He enjoys tennis, hunting, fishing, flying radio control airplanes, and is an avid golfer.
Bill and his wife Molly, a 1961 SIUC graduate, are life members of the SIU Alumni Association and the NAACP. Bill and his family have established two scholarships for SIUC students, and an endowment at the Southern Illinois University Public Policy Institute has been established in Bill and Molly Norwood’s name.