UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Bill Underwood was an 11-time First Team All-American and nine-time conference champion on Tom Prior’s powerhouse Blugold swim teams from 1989-93. During Underwood’s career, the Blugolds won four consecutive conference championships and placed either fourth, fifth or sixth at the NAIA nationals in each of his four seasons. Underwood was an outstanding middle and long distance freestyler, winning conference titles in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle. Twice he finished third in the 500 at nationals. Underwood earned the team’s Hardest Worker award four times, was MVP in 1992 and co-MVP in 1993. He was an NAIA Scholar-Athlete twice and a First Team and Third Team Academic All-American.
A 1993 summa cum laude graduate in political science and environmental studies at UWEC, Underwood went on to receive a law degree (Order of the Coif) from the University of Oregon School of Law. At the time of his induction, he was an accomplished attorney with litigation and transactional experience, serving as senior counsel for Target Corporation since 2004. Prior to that, he spent seven years as an associate at Faegre Baker Daniels. In 2011, Underwood established and has funded the William L. Underwood Study Abroad Scholarship through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation.
