He was a teammate and good friend of Dean Smith, who later went on to fame as a basketball coach at North Carolina.

Bunten and Smith both attended the University of Kansas and were members of Phi Gamma Delta social fraternity.

After college Bunten entered the US Marine Corps and served in Korea, rising to the rank of captain.

This was considered a ploy to attract Google to Topeka as a site for a high speed Internet installation.

In 2012, Bill Bunten announced that he would not seek re-election in April 2013 at a City Council meeting.