The invaluable help of Kevin Vaughan at Denver Post

I can't finish any commentary on my time as the editor of YourHub at The Denver Post without mentioning Kevin Vaughan. Those who watch Fox Sports these days see Kevin as a reporter who covers the big stories, most notably the Aaron Hernandez murder trial. But I knew him as the trusted supervisor who took YourHub under his wing.

Kevin was my go-to guy when I needed to discuss ideas and problems. He had the managerial experience to know the tricky parts of leading people, everything from story creation and execution to personnel matters. I made sure to include Vaughan on any email I sent that involved my plans for the future of YourHub.

Vaughan's involvement with YourHub began when he was still at the Rocky Mountain News, which was where YourHub got its start. He was very interested in the concept of hyperlocal news, and he played a part in making that idea work from the earliest days of YourHub. Vaughan and YourHub were brought on board by The Post after the Rocky ceased operations, and I ended up being a lucky manager because of that. Vaughan always had an open door when I needed to talk things over, and he even sat in on a meeting to work on a personnel matter with one of my reporters.

But Vaughan left for other responsibilities, and a lot walked out the door when he did. One of those things was someone I could go to and discuss YourHub matters. I thought the job of being the YourHub adviser fell to the person who replaced Vaughan in his managerial position. That wasn't the case. In fact, no one stepped in to be the person I could turn to when I had questions and concerns, at least not to the level that Vaughan had.

No manager can say he or she guides without having others they can fall back on. You treasure the people who step up and become helpers. The Post lost a lot when Vaughan walked out the door, and one area of considerable loss was YourHub. I owe Vaughan a lot, and I am glad to talk about his dedication to the job. He's one of the very good ones in journalism.

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