Clarence Vaughn (born July 17, 1964) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

Early life

In high school, at Gage Park in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Vaughn played

, basketball and baseball. He was All-State honorable mention and a three-year football

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

starting on both sides of the ball as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

and a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

College career

Vaughn played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

where he won his 4-year football scholarship. He played

for the Huskies and led the team in tackles with 92 tackles his senior year. In 1983, he was a linebacker on the

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known ...

III championship team where they beat CSUF. Vaughn played under three head coaches at

Bill Mallory William Guy Mallory (May 30, 1935 – May 25, 2018) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1969 to 1973, the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1974 t ...

Lee Corso Lee Richard Corso (born August 7, 1935) is an American sports broadcaster and college football analyst for ESPN and a former coach. He has been an analyst on ESPN's '' College GameDay'' program since its inception in 1987. Corso served as the he ...

and

Jerry Pettibone Jerry Pettibone (born July 11, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Northern Illinois University from 1985 to 1990 and Oregon State University from 1991 to 1996. compiling a career colleg ...

. In 1995, he was inducted into the NIU Hall of Fame for the 1983 football team. He received his B.A. Degree in Criminal Justice and minored in Business Administration.

Professional career

Vaughn was drafted in the eighth round (219th overall) of the

1987 NFL draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

by the

. In his first NFL start against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, he had 13 solo tackles. Later that year, in a post-season game against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, Vaughn made a critical play where he sacked Vikings

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Wade Wilson. They then went on to win

Super Bowl XXII Super Bowl XXII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. He won his second Super Bowl in 1992 against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Super Bowl XXVI Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

. Vaughn was the first NIU player to play in a Super Bowl, and is still the only NIU player to win two Super Bowls.Vaughn "NIU 50 Greatest Players"
, NIUhuskies.com

After football

Vaughn currently runs a youth and young adult football training camp called Get NFL Ready and was Assistant Coach at

Loudoun Valley High School Loudoun Valley High School (more commonly known as Valley) is a public secondary school in Purcellville, Virginia. It is part of Loudoun County Public Schools. Before the opening of Woodgrove High School in 2010, it was the sole high school for t ...

in 2015. Prior to the 2015 football season, he was the head coach of Liberty High School in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

. In 2010, Vaughn coached with the

under their internship program. With the Redskins, Vaughn studied the defensive plays, helped manage the sideline reps and helped manage game day performance of the defensive players. Vaughn coached his third season in 2009 at

Bluffton University Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with three programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: education, nursing and social work. The university ha ...

as a defensive assistant under the NFLPA/NCAA program for retired players. In 2007-08, in Colorado, he was an assistant football coach in charge of the middle linebackers for

Rampart High School Rampart High School is a public high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Established in 1983, it is Academy School District 20's second high school. It was awarded the National School of Excellence award in 1989. It is one of thr ...

. He was the fourth Super Bowl vet ever to coach high school in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

(

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American former professional football quarterback who spent his entire 16-year career with the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Following his playing career, he then spent 1 ...

with Cherry Creek, Louis Wright with Rangeview and

Rick Upchurch Richard Upchurch (born May 20, 1952) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). He played his entire career with the Denver Broncos from 1975 to 1983. ...

with Pueblo East are the other three). Vaughn is married to his wife, Brooke, and resides in Northern Virginia with their kids.

References

External links

*
Clarence Vaughn Website

get NFL Ready with Clarence Vaughn

Redskins Alumni Network
created by Clarence Vaughn {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughn, Clarence 1964 births Living people American football defensive backs Northern Illinois Huskies football players Players of American football from Chicago Washington Redskins coaches Washington Redskins players