University of San Francisco Athletics

Bill Guttormsen was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. After joining the military he was stationed in Bremerton, WA, where he played at Olympia Junior College before transferring to USF. He played guard with the Dons, and graduated in 1952 with a degree in History. In 1958, became Woodside High School's first boys basketball coach when the school opened. The original gym at Woodside is named Guttormsen Gym.

Guttormsen coached at Serra and Carlmont before becoming Mr. Woodside. “He was like Mr. Woodside,” said longtime colleague Tom Crane, who replaced Guttormsen as Head Boys Coach in the 1971-1972 school year. Crane and Guttormsen served essentially as co-Coaches throughout the 1970s, until Guttormsen turned his attention to girls basketball. He coached the Woodside girls team until his retirement in 1986. He moved to the Santa Rosa area but couldn’t stay out of the gym. He coached the frosh-soph team at Ursuline High School, then helped out at Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State in recent years. Longtime Carlmont softball and football coach Jim Liggett was a friend of Guttormsen. “The first thing I think of was that he was a real gentleman,” Liggett said. “He brought respect with him wherever he went. He was such a super human being. If you had a kid, you wanted your son or daughter to play for him (WoodsideHS).”