William H. Morrow was born in West Point, Georgia. He attended Davidson College from 1940 to 1943. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He returned to Davidson College in the fall of 1945 and graduated in May 1946. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta social fraternity, Eumenean Literary Society, Red and Black Masquers, Sigma Upsilon, Forensic Council, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa. He also served as editor for the student humor magazine Scripts and Pranks and the college yearbook Quips and Pranks. After graduation he attended Harvard Law School and later practiced law in California and Florida before serving as general counsel to the Alabama State Bar from 1965 to 1987.