August 30, 1952

Clifty (Madison County) native Arky Vaughan died when a sudden storm caused his fishing boat to capsize. Vaughan tried to save his companion, who could not swim, and they both drowned. Vaughan, one of the best shortstops in baseball history, was one of six native Arkansans elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Fellow Arkansan and Hall of Fame member Travis Jackson played against Vaughan and later described him as “a quiet and solid sort of guy. He never raised any fuss, he just played ball hard all the time.” Vaughan was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1985.