Connecting again

An old photo helps reunite two Colts teammates and friends 53 years later

He turned to education. Vaughn taught high school chemistry, earned a doctorate and retired a high school principal in Norwalk, Conn.

He never forgot the time spent with Berry. When his son, Mo, showed promise in baseball, Vaughn spent countless hours tutoring the youngster. Each practice seemed to last forever, but Vaughn kept pitching them in there, high balls and low ones, just as he had done years before with a determined, if nearsighted, split end.

"Of course, those [football] workouts were on my mind," Vaughn said. "Mo liked to work, just like Raymond. And if you want to improve in anything, you have to practice."

Last year, when Berry finally tracked him down, Vaughn was stunned to hear his voice.

"I was tickled to death to get the call," Vaughn said from his home in Virginia. "We're going to get together [soon], to sit around and reminisce."

Berry, for one, can't wait.

"It's been a long, long time," he said. "I think we'll probably laugh a lot."

Surely they will record their friendship again.

Said Vaughn: "We'll find one of those old photo booths and have another picture taken - 53 years later."

Sun researcher Paul McCardell contributed to this article.