Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Father Wants Son To Have No Regrets
Cheyenne Three-sport Athlete At Lincoln This Fall
Editor’s Note — This is a behind the scenes look at the role fathers of local athletes have played as mentors as part of a Father’s Day tribute series. LINCOLN — Jon Vaughn has a vision for his son, Cheyenne, a three-sport athlete who will be a senior at Lincoln in the fall.
“I want him to finish school, attend college and play whatever sports he wants to,” Jon Vaughn said, adding, “I don’t want him to have any regrets.”
The elder Vaughn enjoys watching both of his sons, Cheyenne and Jaron, play ball and doesn’t hardly ever miss their events, he said while granting an interview at a Lincoln High School baseball game this past season with Cheyenne on the mound as the starting pitcher.
“They used to play pee wee ball, I miss those days, Jon Vaughn said, adding, “I can’t believe how fast they’ve grown up.”
Jaron is three years younger and attended eighth grade, at Marietta School, at Stilwell, Okla. this past year. The brothers have some physical differences. Cheyenne has a dark complexion with Indian features like his father, while Jaron, also has the look of an Indian yet resembles his mother, Tammy. Jon Vaughn said the boys get along well and are real supportive of each other.
“I tell my boys to be proud of their Indian heritage and they are,” Jon Vaughn said.
The family’s Native heritage is common knowledge locally and Jaron recalled an incident at a 2011 baseball game with people in the stands making Indian sounds. That fired Cheyenne up and he struck the next batter out.
“The Indian in him came out,” Jaron Vaughn said.
When Jon Vaughn was young, the family home didn’t have running water and they used both a cookstove and an outhouse.
“You don’t miss anything you don’t have but I’m glad I did get to experience that. It was neat,” Jon Vaughn said, noting the cooking was different.
A lot of the family diet was garnered from hunting squirrel and rabbit and the family utilized Native remedies. Jon Vaughn was taken to an aunt, who treated earaches and runny noses in the traditional Cherokee manner. As an adult, knowledge of those remedies and knowing who to go may have saved Jon Vaughn from potential disfiguration when he was working on a car and had a radiator blow up.
“It was scary, it went all over my
believe in
it,” Jon face and neck and I thought it was going to be ugly,” Jon Vaughn said, explaining he wasted no time in seeking traditional treatment.
“My cousin, Neal Buckskin, doctored the scalding,” Jon Vaughn said, explaining Buckskin was the son of the aunt, who had treated him as a child. “As soon as that happened I knew where I was going. I went and I made a beeline for his house,” Jon Vaughn said.
Jon Vaughn said faith is a key component in successful traditional treatment.
“You’ve got to Vaughn said.
Jon Vaughn has been training his sons to develop their athletic ability since they started walking. He was a lineman in high school, who handled the punting and kicking duties and has trained Cheyenne as a punter, who gives the Wolves an added dimension from that position with the threat of a fake punt. Jaron could dribble the basketball real well when he was in diapers. Friends would come over and say, ‘He’s just a baby,’” Jon Vaughn said.
Jon Vaughn sees Cheyenne as a potential coach.
“He’s good with kids and I think he could become a good coach,” Jon Vaughn said.
Jaron sees that same potential in his older brother, saying Cheyenne inspires younger children.
“If they are doing something wrong, he corrects them. He teaches them real well,” Jaron Vaughn said.
“I told him I want him to go into something he enjoys doing, to go into a field that makes you happy,” Jon Vaughn said.
Jon Vaughn is proud of his sons and their accomplishments, yet emphasizes taking responsibility.
“I tell them, ‘Do not put the blame on anybody else, do not gripe, just go out there and do your job,’” Jon Vaughn said.