Terry Vaughn (April 1, 1973 – May 4, 2023) was an American soccer referee.
Early life
Terry Vaughn was born in Mount Vernon, Iowa, on April 1, 1973. He graduated from Iowa City West High School in 1992, where he was a wrestler and soccer player. He attended Coe College and decided to enter refereeing instead of continuing his career as a player.[1]
Career
In 1998 Vaughn became a National referee for the United States Soccer Federation. He continued to hold a referee license until his retirement in 2012. During his career, Vaughn officiated 237 Major League Soccer matches.[2]
Vaughn was diagnosed with Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disease, at the age of 30 in 2003. He retired from refereeing in 2012 after his symptoms worsened.[3] He died on May 4, 2023.[1]
As a show of solidarity, PRO referees started wearing blue wristbands with "HD" (for Huntington's Disease) during May, Huntington's Disease Awareness Month. [4] This began a trend of referees from grassroots to PRO wearing the bands year - round. US Soccer's official uniform supplier began selling the wristbands with the proceeds going to Terry Vaughn's family to help offset medical costs.[5]
A page on GoFundMe was founded to help Terry and his family pay medical bills by a fellow referee.[6][3]
Legacy
The Iowa Referee Academy has been renamed the Terry Vaughn Referee Academy in his honor.[6][3]
