WHY WE GIVE: ‘To Pass on [Our] Good Fortune’

Benny Vaughn’s (BS ’85) path to a UF diploma was a bumpy run, but he never stopped racing toward that goal. Now, he and his wife, fellow alumnus Joan Carroll, are making that sprint easier for future Gators.

“The university experience is life changing and life expanding. You don’t know it at the time, but you feel it. For me as a student, I knew something important was happening then. The journey of earning my degree, and who I became during that journey, is the biggest gift from my University of Florida experience.” Benny Vaughn

THEN: Vaughn was born at the Colored Women’s Hospital in Americus, Georgia, in 1951. His grandparents’ farm had no running water, barely any electricity. Every morning, Vaughn drew water for the day from a well. The family threw nothing away, reusing every jar, every scrap of paper. They had chickens, fruit trees, pecan trees and met their own needs. Vaughn says he was highly motivated to be self-sufficient.

NOW: Named one of the most influential massage therapists of the last 100 years by Massage Magazine, Vaughn trains competitive athletes in physical and mental fitness at the 5,000-square-foot Benny Vaughn Athletic Therapy Center, in Fort Worth. A pioneer in the use of massage in athletic training, Vaughn has participated in five Olympics as medical staff for the USA Olympic Track and Field Team.

THEN: Vaughn was a highly recruited runner at a time when SEC schools were integrating. He was recruited by Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia, but UF stood out on his first recruiting visit.

“When I asked the students at UF where they were from, they said, New York, Wyoming, Maryland, Washington State. I saw there was a lot of diversity of views and people from all manner of life.”

As a freshman in 1969, Vaughn broke barriers as one the first five Black athletes to desegregate University of Florida Athletics and broke records in the half-mile event.

NOW: Vaughn is a member of the College of Health and Human Performance Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, a 2010 inductee.

THEN: When Vaughn finished his athletic career at the University of Florida, he became fascinated by massage therapy and embarked on what became a 46-year career focused on athletes’ performance and recovery. Still, he did not have a degree because NCAA rules during his school days did not yet require athlete academic progress.

“Years later, I asked myself, what was my primary goal in life? What would I love? And the answer was that I would love to be a graduate of the University of Florida,” Vaughn said. “That became my driving, burning desire.”

In 1982, Vaughn returned to UF to earn a degree in health science education from the College of Health and Human Performance. UF is also where he met his wife of 37 years, photographer Joan Carroll (MA ’84, PHD ’92).

NOW: As a way of giving back, Vaughn and Carroll endowed a scholarship to support graduate students in Applied Physiology & Kinesiology and/or Athletic Training.

“We value the opportunity to pass on the good fortune we had to obtain our education at UF,” the generous couple said.