BIO:

Ray Vaughn is best known for serving as the Ohio USSSA District IX Umpire-In-Chief from 1989-2003.  It was during that era that USSSA experienced its most dramatic growth in Greater Cincinnati, as registrations peaked at over 5,000 teams.  And only through Ray’s extraordinary skill set as an administrator and clinician was the area’s umpire program able to keep pace with the increasing need for quality officials.  Umpire registrations more than doubled in Greater Cincinnati from 151 to over 300 in just six years under Ray’s direction.  One of his most significant achievements was to organize a District IX Committee which was comprised of all the Umpire Associations in the area.  Each association would send a representative to an annual meeting to discuss rule changes, mechanics, training, and administrative matters.  During his career, he umpired approximately 7,000 league and tournament games, mostly at Riverstar Park, where he was the assigner for 17 years.  He worked the Ohio Valley Classic, plus numerous USSSA State, National and National Invitational Tournaments of all classes.  He also worked 27 consecutive U. A. National Tournaments from 1994-2010.  Ray worked for the Queen City Umpires (1970-1978), Ohio Valley Umpires (1979-1981), and Best Officials (1982-1983) before forming Al Goodman/Riverstar Umpires in 1984.  He attended eight national umpire clinics, and conducted six national and sixteen district clinics plus countless clinics for both Riverstar and other area USSSA groups.