Terry Vaughn (referee)

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]

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 appointed to the FIFA panel in 2003 and oversaw matches in the 2009 and 2010 CONCACAF Champions League, the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Vaughn was also a member of the FIFA Panel for the United States Soccer Federation.[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]

The Iowa Referee Academy has been renamed the Terry Vaughn Referee Academy in his honor.[6][3]