Via Christi Behind the Scenes
Bill Wright
Rose Hill High School
By Matt Browning
Bill Wright has taught business and coached baseball and football over his many years at Rose Hill High School, but perhaps Wright’s biggest contribution to the district has been rocketathletics.com.
For the past 14 years, Wright and his web design students update scores, stats, schedules and write game stories and previews for each sport in each season and post to the website.
The website also has special tabs like college signings and school dances.
In totality, rocketathletics.com is an invaluable tool that coaches, athletes and fans use to follow not only current seasons of Rocket sports, but previous ones as well.
To put it mildly, Wright is extremely proud of the work he and his students have accomplished.
“I take pride in the fact that you’ll have a difficult time going online and finding another athletic website for a school our size that has the same history and quality as rocketathletics.com does,” Wright said. “There are some others that are good or even better, but those are usually built and maintained professionally.”
Wright, who is retiring at the end of the school year, spends a significant amount of his spare time updating the website. It’s a job that requires time and dedication.
“I have often said that maintaining the website was a full-time job just by itself,” Wright said. “Every athletic event that takes place results in multiple hours of work. Results have to be collected and prepped for the students. I have been fortunate over the years to have worked with a great bunch of coaches who do whatever is necessary to get me the information that I need in a very timely manner.”
Wright is hopeful that is replacement carries on the tradition that he has built.
“Going forward, I want to see rocketathletics.com survive and then thrive beyond my time at Rose Hill High School,” Wright said. “I have had discussions with our administration about the ‘handoff’ process. I am hoping that my replacement can be hired soon and then be willing to spend some time with me before the end of the school year so that I can show him/her the intricacies of the website.”
