The school was named for Walter McAdoo Williams (March 1, 1891 – May 5, 1959), a native of Liberty, Randolph County, North Carolina, and son of Joel P. and Flora A. Spoon Williams. Considered a "giant in the textile world", he was a member of the Board of Trustees of what is now Wake Forest University and a local citizen recognized for his role in making the high school possible from a financial standpoint. In April 1912, at the age of twenty-one, he moved to Graham, North Carolina. From 1930 to 1940, he had served as Chair of the Burlington School District's school board. He was also executive vice-president and chairman of the board of Virginia Mills, based in Swepsonville, North Carolina. In 1940, he became executive vice-president and chairman of the board for Virginia Cotton Mills in Swepsonville, from which he retired on February 17, 1959. In 1945, the Williamses made the purchase of the campus land possible. When the possibility was raised that the seating capacity in the proposed auditorium would be substantially cut back, they made it possible to retain the planned 2,500 seat capacity. It is believed that the auditorium is the second largest high school auditorium on the east coast. They also donated the auditorium's organ as well as a Steinway grand piano. They were very resistant to the idea of the school being named for them. A member of both Kiwanis and Lions, Williams actively supported the Baptist Orphanage in Thomasville, North Carolina and the Masonic Orphanage in Oxford, North Carolina. The Williamses had no children of their own. In 1950, Williams was named "Citizen of the Year" by the Burlington Kiwanis Club.