Bill McCaffrey grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started playing volleyball in his early twenties at the urging of this brother Dick, at the YMCA. While playing, he played with and against all the best volleyball players in the Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio..
Bill graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 with a B.S. Degree in Aeronautical Engineering. In 1960 he married his wife Betty and they have three children.
The Lewis family moved to Connecticut as he began work at Pratt and Whitney Aviation. Bill started playing volleyball again at the Hartford YMCA. There he met Jim Welch and he convinced Bill to attend the New Haven YMCA. He played there and led the men’s Open Program for 25 years. They played in about 15 tournaments a year in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He also started an adult league in South Windsor that is still in existence with 25 to 30 teams playing.
Bill eventually became the United States Volleyball Association commissioner in New England for five states. He served in that capacity for about five years working with other commissioners to form an East Coast volleyball region. During that time he also began officiating at the end of his tenure, became the chief officials of the New England Region.
Bill also became the United States Volleyball association national official. For the next 25 to 30 years, he worked many USVBA tournaments all over the east coast and in many women’s college matches. Still went to the nationals every year and was on the USVBA national rating team for 10 years.
Bill retired from Pratt and Whitney after 40 years as a vice president and marketing and customer support. After his retirement, he continued to appreciate both girls and boys high school volleyball matches.