OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 21, 2016) – Ray Vaughn Sr. had a thriving coaching career at one of Oklahoma's top high schools in the late 1950s, but gave it up to work at a young, little-known Christian college that had just moved to Oklahoma City.

Vaughn Sr.'s work in building a successful athletic program at Oklahoma Christian has been credited by many with providing the young school with name recognition and credibility during its formative years, and his influence on OC remains strong today, more than three decades after his death.
His son, current Oklahoma County Commissioner and OC Trustee Ray Vaughn Jr., wanted that legacy put in written form, so he researched and wrote a book. "More Than A Coach: Remembering the Life of Ray Vaughn" was published this fall by Oklahoma Heritage Association Publishing, a unit of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

"I wanted to chronicle all of the people that came through here that Dad touched," Vaughn Jr. said. "It's not just about Dad. I was so tickled to talk to some of the old guys who were here when I was a faculty kid. To talk to them today for this book was so cool."

It's hard to understate the importance of Vaughn Sr. to OC's history. In the book's foreward, written by former OC President J. Terry Johnson, Johnson recounts a conversation with his predecessor as OC's president, James Baird.

Baird told Johnson that "Hiring Ray was a critical factor in both the college's transition from Bartlesville to Oklahoma City and its emergence as a credible four-year institution of higher learning. It would have taken many more years to establish ourselves as a senior college without a viable intercollegiate athletic program. From the outset, he put winning teams on the track and basketball court, calling on the faculty to keep pace in their efforts to develop the college's academic standing."

In the book, Vaughn Jr. recounts his father's upbringing in Washita County in western Oklahoma and how Vaughn Sr.'s father worked at OC's predecessor, Cordell Christian College, for more than 20 years before that school closed in the early 1930s. Vaughn Jr. believes that time implanted in his father an appreciation for Christian education that eventually led him to leave a comfortable job to work at OC.

"He grew up around Christian education," Vaughn Jr. said. "His dad probably preached it every day of the week to him. So I can see where the opportunity to come to a new Christian college in a state that hadn't had one in (awhile) … he'd say, 'Yeah, I want to be a part of that.' That made sense to me."

The book also tells of Vaughn Sr.'s time as a student and athlete at Harding University in Arkansas and of his time spent in the U.S. Navy, during and after World War II, before he transitioned into his career as a teacher and coach at Capitol Hill High School in south Oklahoma City – then one of the crown jewels of Oklahoma secondary education – and finally at OC.

But more than just telling Vaughn Sr.'s story, though, the book includes tales about the students and athletes he influenced, both at Capitol Hill and OC.

There are names familiar to Oklahoma sports fans, such as Olympians J.W. Mashburn and Jeff Bennett, pro basketball player Hub Reed and three-sport Oklahoma State standout Dick Soergel, as well as those well-known in the OC community, such as the school's first basketball star, Frank Davis, and other standouts including Hal Ballou, Randy Heath, Mike Herndon, Tom Hibbits, Gary Hill, Lynn McMillon, Jim Neugent, Dave Smith and others.

An entire chapter is devoted to the amazing story of Bennett, who made a spur-of-the-moment decision in 1966 to attend OC. Bennett went on to finish fourth in the Olympic decathlon in 1972 and has served OC in a variety of roles, including as assistant dean of students and assistant track coach, the latter a position he holds to this day.

Why was Vaughn Sr. so successful as a coach and leader?

"I think it was the fact that he took a personal interest in them," Vaughn Jr. said. "It was the personal relationships. It was his ability to not only recognize talent and take a personal interest in that person. You see that over and over and over again in what turned out to be great athletes, who probably wouldn't have succeeded, or even had a chance, but for Oklahoma Christian."

Vaughn Sr. served as OC's athletic director from 1958 until his death in September 1980, at age 63. He coached OC's basketball team for four years as it transitioned into four-year competition, and likewise built the track and field and cross country programs. He eventually handed off cross country to his assistant, Randy Heath, in 1969, and did the same with track and field in 1979. Heath coached through May 2015 and remains a presence on OC's campus as a professor.

Vaughn Sr. is a member of six Halls of Fame – he, Bennett and Davis comprised the first class inducted into the OC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991 – which is symbolic of the heights he reached within his profession. But his son said Vaughn Sr.'s most important legacy was his Christian example.

"What he should be most known for is not only what he's done here at OC, but all of the athletes and all of the students that he converted and are Christians today because of his influence and his example," Vaughn Jr. said. "Nobody has a good handle on how many that is. I've heard numbers from 60 to 100, but no one knows for sure. I think he'd like to be remembered for the success we accomplished here and how the school has remained true to its values."

OC had only six sports when Vaughn Sr. died, but the university's athletic program has seen explosive growth in subsequent years, in good part due to the foundation laid by its founder. OC now competes in 16 intercollegiate sports and is in its second year as a member of NCAA Division II after a long run in the NAIA. Vaughn Jr. said his father would be exceptionally proud.

"It would bring tears to his eyes," Vaughn Jr. said. "He would be amazed. I'm sure he would be very proud with what the school has done, with those who have succeeded him. He built the foundation, but all of those who succeeded him have built on that foundation and we've got a great athletic program as a result."

Vaughn Jr.'s book can be bought at the OC campus bookstore or online at https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Coach-Raymond-Vaughn/dp/1938923316 .