Benny Vaughn

Benny Vaughn Media

Benny Vaughn
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About Benny

Benny Vaughn was one of only five African American student-athletes at the University of Florida in 1969. He was a full-scholarship athlete with the Gators Track and Field Team with Head Coach, Jimmy Carnes. He attended Baker High School in Columbus, Georgia where he was bussed to the all-white High School in compliance with Federal desegregation orders after the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Mr. Vaughn was the first Black athlete to participate on the Baker High School track team and the football team in 1965. In November of 1968, Benny won the Georgia HS State Cross-Country meet in Atlanta where he led his team to the State XC Title. He was the first Black distance runner to win the Georgia HS XC Championship. In that same year he ran and won the HS division of a half-marathon in Atlanta with a time of 1:18.

In his HS Senior year at the 1969 Georgia State HS track and field Championship, He led his team to a 2-point margin victory over favored Atlanta Washington High to win the Georgia State HS team title. Benny won the mile run, he won the 880, he won the 440 and anchored his team’s mile relay. Benny was voted by the Georgia HS Coaches as the Most Valuable Athlete of the State Track and Field Championship in 1969. Benny was a Blue-Chip athlete and was recruited by every SEC school, as the Deep South began to integrate education institutions and its sports teams.

In his professional career, Benny Vaughn is considered one of the most influential massage therapists in sports in the United States. He has been an invited lecturer about sports and massage internationally in Russia, Spain, Japan, Ireland, and Australia. Benny has been a member of the USA Olympic sports medicine staff for FIVE Olympic Games! (Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Tokyo 2020)

Benny operates his Athletic Therapy Center in Fort Worth Texas and is a Certified Life Mastery Consultant offering personal development coaching to professional and Olympic athletes and any person seeking high-quality and confidential executive leadership transformation coaching.