Photo via Augustana University athletic communications Former Fort Dodge and Iowa Central pitcher Tyler Vaughn delivers for Augustana last spring during his senior year.

MARSHALL, Minn. — Tyler Vaughn’s biography page reads like the success story of a typical 23-year-old.

Decorated high school athlete. Accomplished junior college and Division II pitcher. Current graduate school student and assistant coach.

The former Fort Dodge Senior High and Iowa Central standout is making a name for himself in the game he loves as the leader he was almost destined to become. In many ways, he’s living out his dream exactly as planned.

The highlights for Tyler Vaughn the baseball player have been memorable. But the low points — scary moments filled with adversity and anguish — have given Tyler Vaughn the person a sense of perspective and appreciation that will stay with him forever.

Vaughn’s health issues date back to his days as a Dodger. In the fall of 2012, Vaughn was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome — an extra electrical pathway between the heart’s upper and lower chambers that causes a rapid heartbeat.

Though he didn’t miss any playing time as a record-breaking receiver for the FDSH football squad and an all-conference basketball player that winter, Vaughn did have surgery in December to try and eradicate the problem. It was unsuccessful, and the episodes followed him to both Iowa Central and Augustana University in Sioux Falls, S.D.

”As much as I would like to say it didn’t affect me, I’d be lying,” said Vaughn, who is now in his first year as an assistant at Southwest Minnesota State University. ”I would just fight through it (mentally). My heart beat would be above 300 bpm for 5-10 minutes.

”When experiencing an episode in intense in-game situations, I noticed I would lose focus on the game and worry about my heart, which would cause me to have a poor pitching performance.”

Vaughn had a second surgery in 2015 while competing for the Tritons, and again during his last season at Augustana in 2017. The third procedure finally aligned with Vaughn’s system, and he went on to win six games while posting a 2.31 earned run average as a senior for the Vikings.

”I have not experienced a heart episode since my final surgery (a little over year ago),” said Vaughn, a 2012 all-stater for the Class 4A runner-up Dodger baseball squad. ”Seeing how well my senior year went when I was symptom-free, it was eye-opening as to how much my heart really did affect my performances.”

Vaughn’s five-year battle with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome wasn’t the only physical struggle he had to endure while in college. During his junior season at Augustana, Vaughn was hospitalized for two days after contracting both mononucleosis and strep throat. He lost 25 pounds and six weeks of physical activity in February and March.

The 2013 FDSH Schultz Award winner recovered, but later that spring, Vaughn suffered a broken elbow while pitching.

”I was experiencing elbow pain for three outings, so I assume (now) that I was pitching with a broken elbow for three weeks,” Vaughn said. ”I pulled myself from a game in the conference tournament due to the pain.”

Vaughn was sidelined for six months.

”I had surgery in June (a plate and five screws were inserted into Vaughn’s right elbow, which are still there today). I began throwing again in late-October and touched a mound for the first time in January (of 2017).”

Instead of giving up hope, Vaughn did his best to learn from yet another setback.

”Everything was really put into perspective when I wasn’t able to participate my senior fall at Augie,” Vaughn said. ”I was able to see baseball from a different point of view, and the coaching staff kind of took me on as a player-coach.

”I was able to learn a lot from Augie’s coaching staff because I couldn’t do anything physical (at the time). But I never felt like I would stop playing because of any of it.”

The leadership seeds had been planted and were now growing in Vaughn, who comes by coaching honestly from his father, Ted, and mother, Kim.

”It was good for me to stay involved with the team, rather than sitting on the bench every day at practice — dreading each day,” Vaughn said. ”I took on a new role and went full-force with it, and I enjoyed it.

”My parents are a big reason I want to be a coach (in the first place). First and foremost, they are my biggest influences. My dad coached me in about every sport growing up, and watching my mom coach at FDSH (with the girls basketball program) and being around practices was nice.”

In baseball, Vaughn predominantly credits Matt Elsbecker at FDSH, Rick Pederson and Justin Meyer at Iowa Central, and Tim Huber and Mark Moriarty of Augustana for shaping his views and philosophies — now that he is a coach himself.

”My baseball coaches at FDSH — Coach Elsbecker, (Blake) Utley, (Jordan) Miller and (Aaron) Miller — were great,” said Vaughn, who graduated from Augustana with degrees in both business administration and sports management. ”Iowa Central was a great start (collegiately); I loved everything Coach P and Coach Meyer did for me.

”Coach Huber and Coach Moriarty at Augie were just the icing on the cake and a terrific end to me playing career. It helped being from Fort Dodge and around Coach Meyer (Pederson’s pitching coach, and now the Tritons’ head coach) for a long time. He was a huge role model and I learned a lot by his side at ICCC.”

Despite ”probably forever being unable to straighten my throwing arm again,” Vaughn feels normal now and has no pain in his elbow. He is working with pitchers under head coach Paul Blanchard at SMSU, and adds, ”being at the college level (in 2018) has shown me that’s where I want to be.”

Vaughn will be in Marshall for at least another year, while completing his physical education and coaching Master’s program at SMSU.

”I am grateful for the opportunity (Blanchard) has given me,” said Vaughn, a 14-time letterwinner and five-time all-conference honoree at FDSH. ”He doesn’t usually hire recent graduates, but he took a chance on me given my time with Huber (at Augustana, who used to coach with Blanchard). I am the pitching coach and have full authority (over the staff).

”I think (this new chapter) is a combination of my parents and my baseball coaches being inspirations to me. I could tell they all loved what they did, and I figured that was (an) opportunity to stay in the game.”