Belleville History Alive!

'Doc' gets the call to the Hall, page 1

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• : '. 'Doc' gets the call Belleville Bulls' owner Dr. Robert Vaughan wil By Paul Svoboda The Intelligencer There aren't many people who can say they bought out Wayne Gretzky in a business deal. And there aren't many people who can treat an injured player from their own hockey team. Dr. Robert Vaughan is one of them. Vaughan is the owner of the OHL Belleville Bulls and in Sep- tember hell join the ranks of the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame. Vaughan is the second of three inductees that will be introduced to the hall in 1993. Longtime local hockey and baseball personality Ken Soden was announced as an inductee two weeks ago. Ironically, the man most re- sponsible for bringing the Cana- dian Hockey League -- with the highest calibre of hockey in Can- ada outside the NHL -- to Belleville readily admits he was never a superior athlete. As a youngster growing up in Belleville, Vaughan enjoyed all sports - - particularly baseball and hockey. A boyhood friendship with fa- mous Point Anne native and Belleville minor hockey product Bobby Hull led Vaughan to his real interest in hockey. Hull went on to become an NHL superstar and Vaughan can still rattle off his buddy's career statistics. "I had always been ultra inter- ested in hockey because of my con- nection with Bobby Hull," says Vaughan.."He was the reason I ) followed the NHL so closely. Also, my mother was a Gorman related to T.P. Gorman of the original Ottawa Senators." A BCI and Queen's University grad, Vaughan served in the Armed Forces until 1968 when he Dr. Robert Vaughan returned to Belleville to set up his own practice. Then the hockey bug bit hard. But it didn't bite initially. In fact, it wasn't until 1980 that Vaughan was first ap- proached by Larry Mavety and Bob Dolan about taking an active role in the fortunes of the Belleville Bulls. The Bulls were then members of the old Provincial Tier II Jr. A hockey league. Dolan was part of the club's ownership group and Mavety was general manager and coach, a dual position he still holds. They asked Vaughan if he would consider buying into the Bulls. He agreed and attended his first game at the Quinte Sports

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