Heather Stone Williams
2019 Inductee
I tend to get emotional when I talk about my players. I definitely get emotional when I talk about Heather Stone Williams. I will not mention that this is an academic, I mean athletic award. I will not mention that she graduated fourth in her class here at Ridgeland. Or she was a member of the order of the gownsman honors society at the University of the South. Or she graduated with Distinction with a Masters degree. I will not bring up her professional accomplishments of being one of the few women in law enforcement and one of the fewer women on the special weapons and tactics team here in Chattanooga. I will not bring those up. But I will bring her athletic career up here at Ridgeland. She played volleyball, basketball, cross-country, track, and soccer. She had a lot of records here. In volleyball, they made the state tournament three times, two region championships, and one region runner-up. We should have had three straight region championships, but she turned her ankle in the semifinals. Back then, our region had 14 teams, and only the top two went to state, unlike now when the top 4 teams in a region go to the playoffs. She played basketball on four state playoff teams, three region championships, and one final four. In cross country, two region championship teams, four individual region championships, and a state placer. In track, eight individual region championships, a four-time state placer. She placed in the 3200, and her highest placing was the 800 meter with a second place in her junior year. All told, she was responsible for 19 region championships here. She also lettered 19 times, if you count that up, there’s 2 band letters in there too.
She went on to the University of the South, which is where it got interesting. She played varsity volleyball there, and she also ran cross country, where they got two conference championships, NCAA regional champion, and placed fifth in the nation in cross-country. In track, she got 14 individual conference championships, and was a two-time NCAA national champion, all-American, and academic all-American. She’s also on her all-conference team, and the all-time all-conference. The coaches of that conference did a poll of the most memorable cross-country events in the history of the conference, and Heather was responsible for number two and number three in that poll. That is not the most impressive thing. The most memorable event in their conference history, not university but the conference, is Heather during her senior year and her senior track meet conference track meet, she won six individual awards and outscored five teams by herself. No other male or female athlete has scored that many points in a track meet before then or since then. And she still competes in Crossfit events and she just runs around everywhere.
But I wish you could have seen her play. I wish you could have seen her run. I should still see her run. She probably still runs everywhere. We hear about “the zone,” and she could get there When I was a beginning coach, we were just starting to get volleyball going here. We were just starting to get competitive, and on July 20, 1992, Heather Stone and her mom walked into my gym and she said I want to play volleyball. We got real good quick. I can still see her playing with that hair flopping. I can still see her blue eyes when it came ass-kicking time. Her explosiveness in the jump…her hit of the ball when she was spiking the ball… the power she would bring…and everybody figured out she spiked right-handed and left defenders never figured that one out… but for me personally she made my career. I dont know if I'd still be coaching after 32 years if she had not walked into my gym. I believed in my number 10 and my number 10 believed in me, and we went on a heck of a ride. I had my number 10, and I had my Heather, and I just wish you could have seen her play.
What I’ve always admired about Heather is that she never wants to dominate her competition. She didn’t want to injure or embarrass anyone. She has her level of excellence that she’s going to go pursue on the court on on the track and if you get in her way, oh well, but that is where she’s at. As I finish up, I coach swim now. And one of my swimmers and was in my office. She saw my notes and she said, “Who is she Wonder Woman?” I laughed and said “No, but she could probably play Wonder Woman.” I’d like to amend that. I think Wonder Woman needs to play her in the story about Heather’s life. As I look back over my 32 years of coaching, I am so proud and honored to say I coached Heather, and ladies and gentlemen with affection a special sense of pride there’s no place that I’d rather be than right now and I have the honor to induct my number 10 through the Ridgeland Hall of Fame.
-Lance Hall 2019