Topic: Jacque Vaughn

Jacque Vaughn (born February 11, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who currently is a backup point guard for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. He won his first championship as a member of the Spurs in 2007.

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 University of North Carolina's Jerry Stackhouse in the process. After considering Georgetown University, Indiana University, UNLV, the University of Arizona and UCLA, Vaughn decided to play for coach Roy Williams at the University of 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 Chenoweth.

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 buzzer to beat Indiana in an early season game at Kemper Arena. 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.