As we continue our Turn Back the Clock feature, we will look back at some of the most significant events/people in Tartar/Warrior history.

In this segment of "Turn Back the Clock," we highlight 1965-67 football student-athlete A.J. Vaughn.

Vaughn, a Dearborn native and graduate of Dearborn Fordson High School, lettered in football at Wayne State during the 1965, 1966, and 1967 seasons.

Nicknamed "Apple Juice," as he was playing at about the same time O.J. "Orange Juice" Simpson was at USC, Vaughn set 15 individual single game, season and career rushing, passing, total offense and punting records.

As a quarterback of the 1967 Tartars, Vaughn established a new NCAA individual single-game total offense record with 555 yards in Wayne State's 39-31 win at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  His 271 rushing yards and 284 passing yards, which also set new WSU individual single game records, helped break an NCAA record that had lasted over 25 years.

As a sophomore punter in 1965, Vaughn finished third in the NCAA Small College Division and fourth overall in the NCAA with a 44.1 punting average, which was also a new WSU record.  His other single game records included Most Touchdown Passes (4) vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Case in 1967; Total Offensive Plays (52) vs. Case, 1967; and the longest run from scrimmage.  Against Wisconsin-Milwaukee the afternoon of his record-setting performance, Vaughn set a single game record for the longest run from scrimmage, which stills stands today, when he ran 90 yards for a touchdown (matched only by Joique Bell 40 years later).

Vaughn's individual WSU season records were:  Net Passing Yards (1,090); Passes Attempted (142); Passes Completed (68); Touchdown Passes (17); Total Offensive Plays (297); and Total Offensive Yards (1866).  All were set in the 1967 season.  Vaughn's individual career records at WSU were in both total offense categories, for Most Yards (3174); and Most Plays (601).

He finished second in five other career lists, including Passing Yardage, Passes Completed, and Touchdowns Thrown.  A walk-on quarterback who ran the 40 in 4.5, he started as a tailback and punter in his Tartar career, but changed to quarterback in his junior season as Coach Vern Gale switched to a Wing-T offense.  Upon conclusion of his Wayne State career, Vaughn was drafted and given a tryout by the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

RUSHING	g	att	yards	td	long	avg/c	avg/g
1965	8	105	336	1	26	3.2	42.0
1966	8	91	322	2	65	3.5	40.2
1967	9	155	776	7	0	5.0	86.2
TOTAL	25	351	1434	10	65	4.1	57.4

 

PASSING	g	cmp-att-int	yards	td	long	pct	avg/p	avg/g	effic
1965	8	8-23-2	102	1	31	34.8	4.4	12.8	69.0
1966	8	40-85-9	548	3	63	47.1	6.4	68.5	91.7
1967	9	68-142-7	1090	17	0	47.9	7.7	121.1	142.0
TOTAL	25	116-250-18	1740	21	63	46.4	7.0	69.6	118.2

 

TOTAL OFFENSE	g	rush	pass	total	avg/g
1965	8	336	102	438	54.8
1966	8	322	548	870	108.8
1967	9	776	1090	1866	207.3
TOTAL	25	1434	1740	3174	127.0

 

RECEIVING	g	rec	yards	td	long	rec/g	avg/c	avg/g
1965	8	1	37	0	37	0.1	37.0	4.6
1966	8	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0
1967	9	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0
TOTAL	25	1	37	0	37	0.0	37.0	1.5

 

SCORING	g	td	rush	rcv	ret	pat	2pat	fg	total	avg/g
1965	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	0.8
1966	8	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	12	1.5
1967	9	7	7	0	0	0	1	0	44	4.9
TOTAL	25	10	10	0	0	0	1	0	62	2.5

 

KICK RETURNS	g	no.	yards	td	long	avg/r	avg/g
1965	8	2	23	0	0	11.5	2.9
1966	8	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0
1967	9	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0
TOTAL	25	2	23	0	0	11.5	0.9

 

ALL PURPOSE	g	rush	rcv	pr	kr	ir	total	avg/g
1965	8	336	37	0	23	0	396	49.5
1966	8	322	0	0	0	0	322	40.2
1967	9	776	0	0	0	0	776	86.2
TOTAL	25	1434	37	0	23	0	1494	59.8

 

PUNTING	g	no.	yards	long	avg
1965	8	17	750	0	44.1
1966	8	2	57	35	28.5
1967	9	6	220	0	36.7
TOTAL	25	25	1027	35	41.1