Vaughn always had way with words

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON

Vaughn recreates his pose with the symbol of his spelling bee victory.

For the past few years Thomas B. Vaughn has been well known locally as a man of letters for his ?My Turn? columns in the Southern Standard, and around the state for his letters to the editor published over the years in the Nashville Tennessean, for which he has received the prestigious Gold Star certificate awarded by the paper. In addition to these literary pursuits, Vaughn has also achieved some note as a songwriter and publisher, and local Motlow students know him as a professor of political science and public speaking. Of course many folks are also aware of Vaughn?s successful military career, from which he retired as a Colonel.

But those who remember Vaughn as a child know that his love affair with words began early on, though it happens he was better known at that time for being able to spell them correctly, rather than stringing them together in the erudite commentaries he is recognized for these days.

In fact, as a seventh grader Vaughn won first place in Warren County?s first county-wide spelling bee. It was an experience that has had a lifelong effect on his life.

?It was the year of our Lord 1952,? Vaughn recalled. ?Ike was in the White House and Elvis was about to be the King. I was a seventh grader and thanks to the Southern Standard, and some other good corporate citizens, they initiated a county-wide spelling bee. I believe that was the first one they had.

?The seventh and eighth grades from all the schools, as I recall, had what I guess you?d call their semi-finals, as you would say in boxing or sports,? Vaughn said. ?They narrowed it down to where they had one representative from the seventh and eighth grade of each of the schools.?

At the time this resulted in a rather large field of contestants.

?That was back before the schools were consolidated,? Vaughn said. ?We had schools in every nook and cranny of the county. The big contest came on a Saturday, with the inimitable Chick Brown, a mighty man in the media of the time, both print and in radio. Brown was one of the organizers of the spelling bee and also one of those who would give you the words to spell.?

Vaughn attended McMinnville Grammar School, located in what is now known as the Blue Building where city government is housed. His teacher was John Cox. At that period in his life, Vaughn?s mom, due to a divorce, was dealing with life as a single mother trying to raise three kids.

?So John was not only my teacher and a great coach,? Vaughn said. ?He was a father figure and a mentor for me. He really encouraged me to do this because he knew I loved words. And he went beyond encouragement by having a good friend of mine, Buzzy Cook, be my student coach.?

Cox also provided some other study aids to the pair.

?He gave us one of those Webster?s National Collegiate dictionaries, I guess it was,? Vaughn said, ?and he let us go to the auditorium and Buzzy would coach me on some of the hard words. I don?t know if that was legal or not, but if it wasn?t, the statute of limitations is over now,? Vaughn added with a big grin. ?So I had both a teacher coach and a good friend coach.?

But despite all the coaching the spelling bee was far from being a piece of cake, taking the county?s top spellers through a grueling, and lengthy, competition.

?We got into the contest and it was pretty withering fire,? Vaughn said. ?And my memory wouldn?t hold up in court any more, but I believe we spelled for about six hours. As I recall, we started about 10 in the morning, took a brief break for lunch, and by 2:30 p.m. we were in the Webster?s National Collegiate dictionary.?

According to Vaughn, this part narrowed the field in a hurry.

?It was like blazing gunfire,? he recalled. ?People were being mowed down right and left by this word or that.?

Vaughn remembers vividly one word that almost sent him home.

?I stumbled a little bit on the word saccharine,? he said, ?which seemed like a pretty big word for a seventh grader. I spelled it and Mr. Brown challenged me. He said, ?That?s not the way you spell it.? And I said, ?Would you check for a variant spelling?? And you?ve got to understand I?m a seventh grader, young whippersnapper, but he checked it and indeed it had one, because you can spell it with an ?e? on the end, or without an ?e? on the end.?

But by the time it was all over, the spunky young speller had won out. He was champion speller of the county, and victory was sweet, especially since literary pursuits generally weren?t considered as important as, say, sports.

?It was a really big day, huge day for me,? Vaughn said. ?I already had a love for words and I liked to read, so this sort of validated some of the things I?d been doing.?

For that win, and his later success as a wordsmith, Vaughn gives much of the credit to his teachers.

?Mrs. King, John Cox, they really wanted you to do well,? Vaughn said. ?They were encouragers. They weren?t naysayers. They didn?t have low expectations of you.?

Vaughn?s win was chronicled on the front page of the April 11, 1952 issue of the Southern Standard, with an article that extolled his self-confident demeanor throughout the contest.

?Bright-eyed Thomas Vaughn, overflowing with determination and with confidence seldom displayed in events held for youngsters of grammar school age, outclassed 34 city and county school representatives to capture the title of Warren County?s champion elementary school speller Saturday,? read the article?s lead paragraph.

This early accomplishment certainly had an effect on Vaughn, so much so that he has that countywide championship trophy to this day, along with a photo of himself as a beaming young man on the cusp of a life that would eventually bring him back full circle as a man of letters.

So the resurgence in popularity of spelling bees today, even generating mainstream movies and television shows about the competitions, is an encouraging trend to Vaughn, who says reading and language skills are important no matter what career one chooses.

?If you love words and you love to write, and you love to read, love to listen, love to speak, whatever field you?re in, it?s going to help you,? Vaughn said. ?It?s helped me immeasurably.?