Born in Easton, Maryland in 1931, the Kemp family moved to Goldsboro where the Kemp Specialty Furniture Company was started by his father. Bill attended Goldsboro City Schools until the tenth grade when he enrolled in George School, a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania. At George School he excelled in academics as well as sports, especially wrestling and was captain of the wrestling team his senior year. 

Kemp attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the start of World War II. He was called to service and enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps. Returning to Chapel Hill at the end of the war, he continued his athletic career where “Battling Bill” was a letterman in football and a standout in wrestling. He owned a career record of 25-4 as a wrestler and led his team to a Southern Conference Championship in 1947. Kemp earned a degree in Business Administration from Chapel Hill in 1948.

After graduation, Bill Kemp relocated to Goldsboro and joined the family furniture business. In addition to his successful career in the furniture industry, he was a wrestling coach at Goldsboro High School for 16 years, and a devoted Scoutmaster for two decades. Under his guidance, the Goldsboro High School wrestling team achieved great success, winning the State 4-A Championship in 1966. Kemp's passion for wrestling inspired him to establish the sport in numerous high schools across Eastern North Carolina.

Bill Kemp's achievements have been recognized through various awards and inductions. These include being named Goldsboro "Man of the Year" (1957) and "Boss of the Year" (1968), earning the Distinguished Eagle Scout award (1952), and being inducted into the Goldsboro Sports Hall of Fame (1991) and the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame (2005). He has also received esteemed honors such as the Rotary Scouter of the Century Award (2003), the International Home Furnishings Pillar of Industry recognition (1980), and the George Whitfield Baseball Clinic Award (2005).