Wednesday, September 27, 2023

2016 Vienna High School Hall of Fame inductees announced

Webb-Hettinger, Hill to be inducted in February

By Lonnie Hinton

Two former Vienna High School athletes will soon be inducted into the VHS Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held Friday, Feb. 12, during the intermission of the junior varsity and varsity games against Fairfield.

The 2016 Hall of Fame inductees are the class of 2007 member Tori Webb-Hettinger and the class of 1973 member Ross Hill.

Tori Webb-Hettinger

Tori Webb graduated from VHS in 2007.

Tori Webb-Hettinger
Tori Webb-Hettinger

She was a 3-year letter winner in softball and a 4-year varsity letter winner in basketball.

Tori was a vital starter of both the 2006 and 2007 softball regional title-winning teams, with a career batting average of .286.

During her time on the basketball court, the team won 77 games, including the regional championship in 2006.

Tori scored 1578 points on the court during her high school career, the second all-time highest at VHS.

During her time at VHS, Tori had 769 rebounds, placing her third in the school’s history, and 138 blocked shots, the second highest in blocks.

She was named to the All-Conference Team two years in a row and to the All-South Team in her senior year.

Tori received a basketball scholarship to Shawnee Community College.

She currently resides in Belknap with her husband Wes Hettinger.

‘Coach’ Ross Hill

Ross Hill
Ross Hill

Ross Hill graduated from Vienna High School in 1973.

During his senior year, Ross was named most valuable athlete and most valuable player in baseball and basketball.

He played on the only VHS basketball team that went undefeated during its regular season in 1972-73.

After college, Ross Hill returned to Vienna High School to teach and coach.

During his tenure at VHS he coached boys and girls basketball for 21 years and softball 19 years, holding the title of the longest serving coach in each sport’s history at VHS.

He also led the only Vienna girls’ basketball team to go undefeated during their regular-season in 1993-94.

Between coaching basketball and softball, coach Hill has an amazing 1007-395 win-loss record, 630/173 in softball and 377/222 in basketball.

His softball and basketball teams won 54 tournament titles and 24 conference championships.

Coach Hill’s teams have also won 20 regional championship and four section titles.

He led his 1993 and 1994 softball teams to state competition, placing 4th and 3rd respectfully.

Hill also served as VHS’ athletic director from 2004 to 2010 and oversaw the reconstruction of the high school football program in Johnson County after going dormant in 1931.

Coach Hill was inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association Softball Hall of Fame in 2006.