Bill Byers, a graduate of Olathe High School and the University of Northern Colorado, would eventually spend 30 years in the coaching ranks.

He played football and was a three-time Colorado state high school champion in wrestling. Byers attended the University of Wyoming before transferring to the University of Northern Colorado, where he earned All-American honors at the NCAA Division I Championships with a fifth-place finish in 1966.

He spent the next 30 years in the coaching ranks before retiring in 1998.

for freshmen at Northern Colorado, head coaching in Delta and Sterling, and quickly moved up the coaching ladder as head coach at Arvada West High School from 1969-1978. From there he returned to his family's ranch to coach the Olathe Pirates until his and Patty’s retirement from teaching in 1998, moving to Johnstown to be close to their families.

He began as a freshman coach at Northern Colorado in 1966 and would hit the mats with his first head coaching job the following season at Delta High School. It was a quick move up the classification ladder for Byers, who also coached junior high and pee-wee teams throughout his career.

He became the head coach at Sterling in 1968, then made the move to become the head coach at Arvada West High School from 1969-1978. From there, he returned to his family's ranch to coach the Olathe Pirates until he retired in 1998.

Over the course of his career, his teams compiled a 140-35-4 dual meet record, He won six league titles at Arvada West and nine at Olathe while his teams at all four schools combined for 10 league runner-up finishes. Arvada West was the state runner-up in 1970 and 1975 while 0lathe was third in 1984 and second in 1994. His teams finished in the Top 10 15 times.

Bill coached 15 individual state champions and 142 league champions. He had 212 wrestlers qualify for the state tournament and 82 were state place-winners.

He was named Colorado Coach of the Year in 1970 and coached the North All-Star Team in 1984.

Six of his former wrestlers have gone on to coach.