You would use the verb "was" not "were" particularly because words like "everyone" and "everybody" are treated as singular not plural. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the ending words of those words. For instance, in the word "everybody", -body is singular. You can also think of it as not using the verb "are" (present simple) for everybody, everyone, anyone, no one, etc., so you would not use "were" for those words either.