Saturday, February 12, 1977 Vickie and I were just getting settled into our new dream home in Shannon Forest on the other side of Windy Gap in Franklin County. The day was short and the night was long. Molly Jo was still a couple of months short of her first birthday. About the time that the sun was going down on a cold winter day,and that winter had been a cold winter indeed, we packed our car and headed to Roanoke where we dropped Molly Jo off at Marys before heading to Blacksburg where Army was to play Virginia Tech in basketball that night. My grandmother, Mimi, had ten grandchildren, nine boys and one girl, my sister Mary Lynn. Denny Vaughn was the oldest of my eight cousins and arguably the best athlete. He earned a basketball scholarship to Tennessee Tech, but on this night we were going to see his son, Robby who was a plebe at West Point, play for Army. The coach there was in his second year there, and after having a losing record his first season, brought a team in with a 16-6 record, that had just suffered a tough overtime loss to St. Johns. Tech was tall and athletic and rolled to an easy 89-74 victory as Armys freshman point guard failed to score in less than ten minutes of play. Denny and his family had come up from Huntsville, Alabama, to see his son play and Vickie and I met up with them after the game at George Preas Red Lion Inn where they and the Army team were staying. Robby was able to come by the room for a short visit before a team manager came knocking announcing that Coach had called a team meeting. Here was a guy that had coached a team to 27 career victories, and he was pretty upset that he had not gotten number 28 that night. December, 1980 Almost four years later, Vickie, Molly Jo, and I are heading to Kentucky to spend Christmas with family when I tuned in to listen to the Virginia-Army game from the Cable Car Classic. Armys point guard steals the ball and goes around Ralph Sampson to put Army up 2-0, It would be Army team captain, Robby Vaughns only points of the night and Armys only lead as Virginia won in a runaway. The Coach left for Duke after the season and Robby Vaughn received his commission as a second lieutenant that spring.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 16:43:27 +0000