Jon Vaughn

Jonathan Stewart Vaughn (born March 12, 1970) is an American former football running back and return specialist who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons from 1991 to 1994 with the Seattle Seahawks, the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs. In his most productive season, he led the 1992 Patriots in rushing and led the NFL in kickoff returns with a 28.2 yards per return average on twenty returns. Vaughn was the tenth NFL player to accumulate four kickoff-return touchdowns and the second to accumulate kickoff return touchdowns for three teams.

He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, where he was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Year in 1990. Vaughn had set University of Michigan records for 200-yard games and yards per carry. As a high school sprinter, he set the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) 100 meter and 200 meter records that stood for more than a decade.

Early life
Born and raised in Florissant, Missouri, Vaughn attended McCluer North High School there. His 1988 Missouri State High School 200 meter dash record time of 21.28 seconds stood until 2002. His state meet time of 10.44 seconds in the 100 metre event stood until 2007 as the Missouri High School record.

College
During his two years playing for the University of Michigan Wolverines, he played for back-to-back Big Ten Conference Champions. He accumulated rushing statistics in only 16 NCAA games for the Wolverines over the course of two seasons. However, in his redshirt sophomore 1990 season, he was selected Co-Big Ten Offensive Football Player of the year (along with University of Iowa Hawkeyes players Nick Bell and Matt Rodgers) by the conference's coaches when he started 11 of 12 games. Vaughn, who wore #25 for the Michigan Wolverines football program in 1989 and 1990, played running back after redshirting as a defensive back who wore #46 in 1988.

As of 2007, Vaughn holds the University of Michigan career yards per attempt record (minimum 200 attempts).

He opened the 1990 season by posting 201 rushing yards on September 15, 1990, against University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, then 288 rushing yards against the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins on September 22, 1990, at the Big House. This feat made him the first Michigan back to rush for 200 yards in consecutive games, a feat not duplicated until Mike Hart did so in 2004. The 288-yard effort ranks third on the All-time Michigan single-game rushing yards list (behind Ron Johnson's 347 yards in 1968 against the Wisconsin Badgers and Tshimanga Biakabutuka's 313 yards against the Ohio State Buckeyes in 1995). His 1,364 yards rushing that season ranks 13th on the Michigan all-time single season rushing list. During that redshirt sophomore season, he played with freshman Ricky Powers, who set the Michigan freshman rushing record later broken by Hart and who tied with Vaughn for a team-high five 100-yard rushing games, although accumulating far fewer total yards than Vaughn.

During the 1990 season, Vaughn was closely watched in the press. He entered Michigan's seventh game—the weekend of October 28, 1990—as the nation's leading rusher. Entering the eighth week, he was averaging over 144 yards per game and was second in the nation and first in the Big Ten. He only gained a total of 94 yards in his ninth, tenth and eleventh games combined and entered Michigan's bowl game as #11 in the nation. He ran for 128 yards in his final game and ended the season as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. He also ended the season eleventh in the nation in rushing and second in the Big Ten with 112.4 yards per game.

Despite his eventual professional success as a kickoff returner, he never returned kickoffs in college. In 1990, Desmond Howard and Derrick Alexander shared the kick-return duties. In 1989, Desmond Howard and Tony Boles shared the role.

In 2020, Vaughn would join at least 70 other plaintiffs in lawsuits against the University of Michigan charging the school with allowing team doctor Robert Anderson to sexually abuse students for decades.

Professional football
Vaughn entered the 1991 National Football League Draft after his redshirt sophomore season. The season trailed off as Powers got much of the late-season workload with four consecutive 100-yard efforts in Michigan wins. Vaughn was one of a relatively small class of underclassmen, headlined by Ragib "Rocket" Ismail, to be approved in the NFL's second class of players allowed to declare themselves eligible for the draft despite remaining amateur eligibility. In addition to Vaughn, other headliners among the underclassmen were Herman Moore, Todd Marinovich, and Rob Carpenter (who also played for the 1991 Patriots). Vaughn was drafted with the first pick of the fifth round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. Coach Dick MacPherson used him sparingly from scrimmage in his rookie year as Leonard Russell was the featured back for the 1991 Patriots. However, he had 34 kickoff returns, including one touchdown, for an average of 21.1 yards in 1991, 10th among those with 1.2 returns per game. He also completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Marv Cook against the Houston Oilers on September 22, 1991, the Patriots' only non-quarterback touchdown pass until Dave Meggett repeated the feat during the 1997 NFL season.

In 1992, Vaughn led the team in rushing yards with 451 yards on 113 carries. He had 20 kickoff returns for an average of 28.2 yards, including another return touchdown. This second kickoff return touchdown was the last by a Patriot until Derrick Cullors repeated the feat in 1997 against the Buffalo Bills. Vaughn's first 100-yard rushing game—110 yards on 20 carries—came on November 22 in a 24–3 win against the New York Jets at home. In 1992, Vaughn had six fumbles on only 113 carries and 13 receptions, and five of the fumbles were lost to the other team. His 28.2-yard average led the National Football League (Deion Sanders was second at 26.7).

After two seasons in New England, Vaughn was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for an undisclosed draft pick. During the 1993 NFL season, his workload was modest in the backfield with Chris Warren and John L. Williams, but one game featured a career-best 131 yards on 26 carries, his second and last 100-yard rushing game.

Vaughn spent most of the 1994 NFL season with the Seahawks, but he was released after having three fumbles on only 27 carries. In December, he was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs. He had no rushes from scrimmage that year, but he returned kickoffs for both teams and recorded a kick return touchdown for each, including a 91-yard runback against the Miami Dolphins for the Chiefs in 1994.

In his career, Vaughn ran back four kickoffs for touchdowns. This ranked him tenth (two short of the record six) in NFL history through the 2006 NFL season. He had been in a three-way tie for eight upon his retirement before the 1995 NFL season. His kickoff return touchdowns for three teams tied Ron Smith for the NFL record, which was broken during the 2007 NFL season by Allen Rossum who posted a touchdown return for his fourth team. Despite his success as a kick returner, he was released during training camp in 1995.

Career statistics
N.B.: Home team is in bold.
 * 100-Yard Games

Activism
Vaughn revealed in July 2020 that he had been sexually abused by the late University of Michigan doctor Robert Anderson (1928–2008) after allegations began emerging about the physician in February 2020. Vaughn said he saw Anderson while playing for University of Michigan from 1988 to 1990, and during several visits the doctor gave him testicular and rectal exams. Vaughn became active in efforts to hold the university accountable including speaking about bills aimed at removing barriers allowing victims of Anderson to sue the university. Among his most high-profile activities was camping outside of the home of then-University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel in October 2021. Vaughn announced a bid to run for a Regent of the University of Michigan office.