Jacque Vaughn

Jacque Vaughn (born February 11, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He last played for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA and is currently serving as an assistant coach for the team.^[1]

High school career

A native of Altadena, California, Vaughn attended John Muir High School in nearby Pasadena, becoming the best high school player in that area since former Muir High and NBA standout Stacey Augmon. Vaughn excelled both on and off the court, and by his senior year was ranked as high as the #7 high school recruit in the country and the #2 point guard in the class of 1993 behind arguably the nation's top player that year, Randy Livingston. Over the course of the season, Vaughn averaged over 21 points and 19 assists per game, while also compiling six triple-doubles. Named a First-Team All-American by nearly every publication on the market, Vaughn rounded off his special season with a selection to participate in the prestigious McDonald's All-American Game where he put on a show, scoring only 6 points but amassing 13 assists (still a McDonald's record), while also thoroughly outplaying the higher-ranked Livingston once again—this time on a national stage (they had both matched up against each other in the All-Star Game of the 1992 Nike Camp), and was named co-MVP with the North Carolina's Jerry Stackhouse in the process. After considering Georgetown, Indiana, UNLV, Arizona and UCLA, Vaughn decided to play for coach Roy Williams at Kansas, continuing, along with fellow recruit and college roommate Scot Pollard, the California pipeline of high school hoopsters to Lawrence, Kansas, started by former standouts Adonis Jordan and Rex Walters, and continuing in later years with Paul Pierce, and Eric Chenowith.

Collegiate career

In his college career Vaughn made an immediate impact, quickly becoming the starting point guard as a freshman by impressively beating out the incumbent starter, the ultra-quick Calvin Rayford, a former McDonald's All-American himself. Among Vaughn's first-year highlights were earning the MVP award at the 1993 Pre-Season NIT at Madison Square Garden in New York City and hitting a game-winning three pointer at the overtime buzzer to beat Indiana in an early season game at Allen Fieldhouse.^[2] Throughout his four years at Kansas, Vaughn was best known as a flashy distributor of the basketball and a pesky defender with great speed and court awareness. By the end of his college career, he was the all-time leader in assists in Kansas basketball history with 804 total (since surpassed by Aaron Miles), as well as the Big Eight Conference's all-time record holder. In 1997, the award given annually to the school's assist leader was renamed to include Vaughn, Miles and original assists leader, Cedric Hunter, as the Hunter/Vaughn/Miles Assists Award.

Professional career

In 1997, Vaughn was selected 27th overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Draft. In addition to playing four seasons in Utah, Vaughn also played with the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks (in two separate stints), New Jersey Nets, and San Antonio Spurs. He appeared in 64 games for the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs during the 06-07 season and finished his career there, retiring after the 08-09 season. Over his career, he averaged 4.5 points per game and 2.5 assists per game. He also set an NBA record for consecutive missed field goal attempts to open a season, missing his first 22 to start the 2001 season with the Atlanta Hawks. After 12 seasons as a player in the NBA, in September 2010 Vaughn rejoined the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach.

Academic achievements

In addition to his athletic prowess, Vaughn continually excelled academically on both the scholastic and collegiate levels, maintaining a 3.94 GPA in high school Honors and AP courses and a 3.72 GPA as a Business Administration major at Kansas. As a senior in 1993, Vaughn was awarded the Dial Award as the nation's top male high school scholar-athlete, becoming the first basketball player ever to win that award, was a two-time Academic All-American at Kansas and the 1997 GTE Academic All-American of the Year. He was also named the Big Eight Player of the Year in 1996 and a was a two-time all-conference pick. His college jersey was retired on December 31, 2002 and hangs in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse.^[3]

Vaughn, an avid poetry reader, is married to his college sweetheart, Laura, and has two sons, Jalen and Jeremiah.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

• Jacque Vaughn at NBA.com