‘Serendipity’ helps Raiders diehard attend NFL draft

CLEVELAND — Denean Vaughn unsheathed a black Raiders bucket hat Thursday and gently placed it atop her head before leaving the downtown Renaissance Hotel.

It adorned an outfit befitting the franchise’s inaugural Fan of the Year, matching her Raiders hoodie, mask — and fingernails, manicured to silver and black perfection. But it would also help shield Vaughn from the cool drizzle that poured all day from the cloudy Cleveland sky on the first day of the NFL draft.

Vaughn had never before attended a draft. And nothing, nothing, was going to dampen the experience she’d waited her whole life to have.

“It’s the most surreal thing that’s happened to me,” said Vaughn, an administrator in the Clark County School District who on Saturday will read one of the Raiders’ draft picks on the stage in the NFL’s draft theater.

“It’s serendipitous.”

Vaughn and her husband, Damascus Russell, are attending the NFL draft this weekend on the Raiders’ dime. It’s all part of a Fan of the Year package that included a Zoom call with Raiders greats Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen, and a memorable virtual meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The 53-year-old Las Vegan is a lifelong Raiders fan and educator committed to the development of local youth. It’s that commitment that led to her trip to Cleveland.

It’s that passion — and perhaps that passion only — that exceeds her passion for the Raiders.

Fan of a lifetime

Vaughn didn’t exactly grow up in Raiders country. She hails from the St. Louis area and still proudly supports the MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals. But she randomly watched a Raiders game on television during her youth and was enamored by the vibrant spirit with which their fans cheered.

“I couldn’t spell Raiders when they made their first impression on me,” she said. “It looked like Halloween every game because the fans were so over the top. … I just loved that and I never forgot it.”

Vaughn followed and rooted for the Raiders from afar. The emergence of the internet allowed for additional access, thereby furthering her fandom while she obtained multiple master’s degrees and a doctoral degree.

She taught English in the St. Louis area for several years and moved in 2017 to Las Vegas with Russell, a registered respiratory therapist whom she met in elementary school. It was that same year that Las Vegas was awarded the Raiders, meaning her favorite team was coming to what she says is her favorite city.

Vaughn promptly purchased a pair of personal seat licenses with the intent to share her tickets with underprivileged students who attend Clark County schools. The NFL introduced its Fan of the Year program this season. She applied on a whim, basing her application essay on her plan for her seats.

She didn’t expect to be selected, but the Raiders surprised her with a camera crew on Veteran’s Day and told her she indeed was the franchise’s inaugural Fan of the Year.

“I’m second to the Raiders. That’s what it means to her,” Russell said, jokingly vouching for her fandom. “Whenever she’s passionate about something, she’s really into it.”

Vaughn in the last few months has developed friendships across the NFL with the Fans of the Year from the other 31 franchises. They’re connected via Facebook and often exchange playful banter about the happenings of their respective teams.

She mingled before the draft in the Renaissance with the Fans of the Year from Philadelphia, Tennessee and Tampa Bay. She said the rest of the fans plan on meeting sometime this weekend.

Vaughn, who said she hopes the Raiders address their defense this weekend, will have the opportunity to welcome her new friends to Las Vegas next spring when the 2022 NFL draft comes to town.

“I’m going to love being able to host them,” she said. “That’s what’s exciting to me, the relationships that I developed that will endure with the Fans of the Year.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter