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Sep 5, 2024 By Rob Burchianti 5 min read

Dana Vaughns wasn’t a prolific scorer for Uniontown but he played a key role on the Red Raiders’ back-to-back section championship basketball teams in 1987 and 1988 nonetheless.

Vaughns was a classic all-around player who was a notoriously tough defender, always drawing the opponent’s top offensive threat, but could provide offense if needed on teams loaded with other high-scoring options.

While offensive players grab most of the headlines, Vaughns’ impact on the success of those two first-place teams, which put together overall records of 20-5 and 23-4 for combined mark of 43-9, was recognized enough to earn him a spot recently in the Uniontown Area High School Academics, Arts and Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2024.

“I was surprised,” said Vaughns, who made the trip back from his current home in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I wasn’t expecting that call. I didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge about the Uniontown Hall of Fame. I knew there were some folks that had gone in before. Marc (Vasser) had gone in before. I never really thought of myself going into the Hall.

“When I did get the call, I said, you know what, this will be nice. It’ll be nice to go back home and receive the recognition not only for myself but for the teams that I played on and for a lot of folks that are as deserving or more deserving than myself to be in it.”

Like many young basketball players at the time, Vaughns honed his skills on the famous Uniontown playgrounds which helped him make a huge impact on his high school teams, both of which made playoff runs.

The 1986-87 Red Raiders defeated Bethel Park, 68-52, in the WPIAL playoffs before falling to Central Catholic, 62-50, but they still qualified for the PIAA tournament and won two games there, 71-69 over Altoona and 78-69 over Moon before being eliminated by Meadville, 85-67.

A year later as a senior Vaughns was named a team co-captain and helped lead Uniontown to a repeat first-place section finish. The Red Raiders again made a playoff run but this one ended in controversial fashion.

Uniontown defeated Greensburg Salem, 68-54, and Greater Latrobe in a 47-45 nail-biter but lost to Norwin in the WPIAL semifinals, 63-61 in overtime. The Red Raiders qualified for the PIAA tournament for the second year in a row and knocked off Schenley in the first round, 81-74, but then were eliminated by Farrell, 65-62, in another overtime game.

Uniontown, which was coached by James “Lash” Nesser at the time, should’ve won the game in regulation but a bucket by Vaughns was inadvertently given to a Farrell player with the same number. Official scorers and a WPIAL representative incorrectly ruled it was an uncorrectable error which caused the game to be tied at the end of regulation.

“We unfortunately had a little hiccup there my senior year as we all know what took place when we played Farrell,” Vaughns said. “It was frustrating because I thought we were playing real well at that point. I honestly think if we would’ve gotten past that game we would’ve won the state championship.”

Vaughns recalled his time under Nesser fondly.

“He was a great coach and a mentor,” Vaughns said of Nesser. “That team, I remember, just lots of fun. We had a tremendous team. I think back to those 86-87, 87-88 years, we had Daryl Truley, we had Marc Vasser, we had Stu McLee, we had Maceo Belt, Fred Houston, we had a whole host of tremendous athletes and we did some really good things.

“We had tremendous memories. We were a significantly bonded team. We really loved each other, we played for each other, we did everything together. That is what it means to be a true team.”

Vaughns went on to play two years at West Virginia Wesleyan before transferring to and playing at Lock Haven where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts.

Vaughns went on to have an award-winning 25-year sales and leadership career spanning seven companies.

“I live in Vegas now,” Vaughns said. “I lived in a number of different places before I got back to here right now. When I left the Pittsburgh area for my industry we went down to Mississippi and I covered geographically for Mississippi and Louisiana, then I went to the Carolinas. Then I went to our home office in New Jersey, then I moved all the way out to the West Coast to support our son (Dana Vaughns II) and his efforts in the entertainment world. Then I had a chance to finally relocate over in Las Vegas.”

Vaughns is married to Joni M. Curry-Vaughns. His nephew, Terrance Vaughns, is Uniontown’s all-time leading scorer.

“I expect he’ll be inducted at some point, too,” Vaughns said.