Dana Vaughn brought blue collar mentality to the court
Dana Vaughns brought a blue collar mentality to the basketball court and it served him well. The former Uniontown High School standout was the ultimate role player.
Vaughns was a part of two outstanding Uniontown teams in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Prior to that, he played JV basketball for the Red Raiders.
“We were coming in on the tail-end of the Stu McLee and Daryl Truly era,” Vaughns said. “They were seniors when my group were juniors, but Marc Vassar was so advanced that he played varsity basketball in ninth grade, and we had some other guys on the team like Chuck Yezbak, Eric Allen and people like that. Those guys were all ahead of us. We had to find a way to work into that and we took off from there starting my junior year.”
The Red Raiders were 20-5 in 1986-87 and during Vaughn’s senior campaign they finished 23-4.
In 1986-87, the Raiders downed Bethel Park, 68-52, in the WPIAL playoffs before losing to Central Catholic, 62-50. In the PIAA playoffs, the Red Raiders beat Altoona, 71-69, and Moon, 78-69, before falling to Meadville, 85-67.
The Red Raiders defeated Greensburg Salem, 68-54, and Latrobe, 47-45, in the WPIAL playoffs before losing to Norwin in the WPIAL semifinals, 63-61, in overtime. In the PIAA playoffs, Uniontown defeated Schenley, 81-74, and then lost to Farrell in a controversial game, 65-62.
The 6-1, 180-pound Vaughns developed into a solid player for the Red Raiders, tallying 180 points as a junior and 280 as a senior. His high game as a junior was 19 against Laurel Highlands and he had 19 against Elizabeth-Forward as a senior.
“My development in the process was that I knew I wasn’t the strongest offensive player, but I had the mentality that I could stop the other team’s best player,” Vaughns stated. “I was more of a defensive specialist than an offensive threat. When I scored it was a plus. It wasn’t my job to do, we already had scorers on the team. Early on I understood my role and played it the best that I could play it.
“I was comfortable in my role. It took me to a lot of other places other than just high school basketball. I got a scholarship to play in college and actually played a little professional ball in Europe. To play defense and develop the offense later on was a blessing for me.”
Vaughns has great memories of his Uniontown teammates.
“We did everything together,” Vaughns said. “Marc Vassar, Maceo Belt, Fred Houston and the rest of the guys, we would go to Mercs for lunch. We did everything literally together.”
Vaughns was right in the thick of one of the most controversial games in Uniontown basketball history, the 65-62 double overtime loss to Farrell on March 17, 1988, in the WPIAL playoffs at the Pitt Field House.
Official scorer Lawrence “Deuce” Skurcenski, confused because both teams were wearing the same uniform numbers, erroneously credited a Uniontown basket by Vaughns to a Farrell player who wasn’t in the game. Officials Jim Julian and Walter Szala refused to correct the error when it was brought to their attention even though it was a correctable error.
“The uniform numbers were all even numbers and that started the whole thing,” Vaughns said. “We were nervous for coach Lash Nesser. He was upset, but he couldn’t do anything for his boys because his hands were tied.”
Vaughns has a soft spot for his mentor Nesser.
“He was not just a coach, but a mentor to all of us,” Vaughns opined. “He looked out for our best interests, he was a players coach.”
Vaughns was also a product of the Uniontown playground system.
“That’s where I learned my basketball, at East End, “Vaughns explained. “We had Bailey Park, Grant Street and Lincoln View. That was the community of basketball for us, the core group of our team used to travel to these different playgrounds and play. That’s how we learned, we played all the time.
“We were part of a great tradition and the games with Laurel Highlands were special. I just wanted to get on the floor and I wanted to be able to say I was in that game.”
Vaughns played in the 1988 Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in the preliminary game.
“That was a lot of fun,” Vaughns remembered. “We scrimmaged against against players like Alonzo Mourning, Orlando Vega, Stanley Roberts, Billy Owens and Chris Jackson, it was a great experience.
Vaughns graduated from Uniontown and initially went to West Virginia Wesleyan before finishing his college career at Lock Haven.
“I went to West Virginia Wesleyan and played in 1988-89 and 1989-90,” Vaughns explained. “Greg Walcavich, the coach that recruited me, left and went to Edinboro, and the the new coach took over and wanted to make a change. Dave Blank contacted me and I went to Lock Haven.”
Lock Haven went 12-15 in 1990-91 and the Bald Eagles finished 13-14 in 1991-92. Vaughns averaged 8.1 points per game in 21 games in 1990-91 and 3.8 ppg in 27 games in 1991-92.
“It would have been better had I not blown my knee out,” Vaughns lamented. “My first year I blew out my ACL in my right knee. We had some good players, Shon Crosby and Chris “Handles” Franklin who plays for the Harlem Globetrotters.”
Vaughns played professionally in Denmark for a season and a half. He returned to Uniontown and worked as a program director at the YMCA. He went to work as a Pharmaceutical sales representative for Astra Zeneca from 1999 to 2001. He then joined Novo Nordisk A/S and moved up the corporate ladder, he is currently a Senior Endocrinology District Business Manager for them.
Vaughns, 43, resides in Los Angeles with his wife of 10 years Joni. They have 16-year-old son, Dana II.
“Athletics has been everything for me,” Vaughns said. “It opened doors for me and got me to a great place in life.”