Bill Lee Atchley was born on February 16, 1932 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He attended public schools in that city and graduated from Central High School where he was student body president and captain of the football team. After high school, Atchley spent two years as a pitcher in the old New York Giants baseball system. He attended the University of Missouri at Rolla on an athletic scholarship. He earned a Bachelor of Science (1957) and an Mastern of Science (1959) in civil engineering. In 1965, he was awarded a PhD in civil engineering from Texas A&M. His dissertation was "The Energy Absorption Capabilities of Plain Concrete Under Dynamic and Static Loadings.”

Between 1957 and 1975, Atchley taught at the University of Missouri at Rolla where he became a tenured professor. In 1975, he was selected to serve as Dean of the College of Engineering at West Virginia University. In 1979, he was chosen to be the President of Clemson University. During his administration Clemson's student enrollment increased to over 12,000 students, the Senator Strom Thurmond Center for Excellence in Government was established, and Clemson's football team won the 1981 NCAA championship. In 1982, his administration was involved in a major investigation concerning NCAA rule violations. In the aftermath of continued disagreements between himself and the Board of Trustees, Atchley resigned in 1985.