OBITUARY: Former Rough Riders Kaye Vaughan, Joe Moss won't be forgotten
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Over the years, Kaye Vaughan was a lot of things.
First, he was a helluva football player. An all-star. The best of the best. A Hall of Famer. But with Kaye Vaughan, it didn’t end with the football things; he was so much more than what he showed all those years doing double duty on a football field. Teacher. Coach. Husband. Dad. Grandfather. Great grandfather. Gentle giant. And, he was humble. Yes, to the end, with all of the accolades he rung up over his 91 years of living, he never got too big for his britches. He never dwelled on the so-many-good things he accomplished in his life.
On Sunday, Vaughan, a terrific, multi-time all-star as an offensive and defensive lineman who played for the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1953-64, died. It was the second big hit suffered by the Ottawa sporting community, which a few days earlier lost former Riders coach Joe Moss who died last Tuesday at the age of 92.
Let’s start with Vaughan. In 1953, he was selected in the 12th round of the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts. In 1956 and 1957, he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Lineman. He joined the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1978. In a TSN poll, he was ranked 41st on the list of top 50 players of all-time. He was that good. A legend.
In 1967, Vaughan and his wife Lucile (a skier who’s in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) moved to the Eastern Townships (Knowlton), where he worked for 23 years as a teacher, coach, guidance counsellor and board administrator before retiring in 1990. Kaye and Lucile had two children – daughter Myrle and son Jake. There are now also six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
“My dad never put a lot of pressure on me to go into football,” said Jake, an all-Canadian defensive back at Bishop’s University who was drafted by the Argos and spent a couple of seasons in the CFL as a DB/kick returner. “I also played a lot of basketball and my mom was a skier so I skied. There was never, ‘We’re a football family, so you need to play football.’ It was, ‘Do whatever you enjoy, but do it with commitment and things will work out.’
“The big thing with dad, he was a man of the people. He didn’t have a big head about it, he didn’t boast about his career. He was very proud and thankful for the different awards and accolades he got, but he wasn’t boastful about it. he wasn’t cocky about it. He was just his normal self. He really worked his ass off all those years. It wasn’t just him, it was the guys he played with, the team, the fans and the community. They really accepted him and my mom. Most of his really close friends were from that team and that community.”
After meeting at an awards banquet through mutual friends, Kaye and Lucile were married 63 years. Both great athletes, they wanted their children to enjoy the benefits of sports.
“(My parents) stressed that sports wasn’t just about the physical aspect, it was about participating and making friends and shaping you,” said Jake. “Give it your all and if it works out and you win, great. But if you’re on the losing team, it’s still fun to be part of.”
Vaughan recovered a fumble for the clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter of Ottawa’s 1960 Grey Cup victory; it was the only touchdown in his career. But there were numerous other highlights, for sure. Vaughan was added to the Wall of Honour at TD Place in 2019.
Moss carved out his own mark in the professional football legacy in the nation’s capital.
Selected by the LA Rams in the NFL Draft in 1952, he played for the Washington Redskins for a season. He then played for a year with the Rough Riders before heading south to coach several years at the U.S. college level.
Moss’ coaching stops in the CFL included Saskatchewan, Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa. Moss took over as Argos head coach midway through the 1974 season following the firing of John Rauch. He posted a 3-5-1 record before being replaced by Russ Jackson, but stayed on as defensive co-ordinator for two more seasons.
Moss was head coach for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in 1982 (he was named coach of the year). The next season, he was defensive co-ordinator for the Argos when they won the Grey Cup. Moss was hired as head coach of the Riders in 1985, posting a 7-9 record and going to the playoffs. He was fired late the next season with the team at 3-10. Moss continued to coach in the CFL until 1997; he was Ottawa’s defensive co-ordinator in 1996. He finished his coaching career in the Arena Football League.
Moss is survived by his daughter Nancee Kemper and son Joseph Moss II. There are also five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
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