Vaughn Connaly

Vaughan Bradford Connelly was an American gridiron football player who played college football for Georgia Tech and later played in the first American Football League (AFL) in 1926. He subsequently was active in real estate development and other ventures, described by The Miami News in 1957 as "widely known for his real estate, gas, oil, mining, hotel and apartment operations."

Biography Connelly was born in Atlanta in 1902. His father was the superintendent of police for the Southern Railway. Connelly attended Central High School in Washington, D.C., where he was a letterman in football and track. He also attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, lettering there in basketball, football, and track.

Connelly attended the Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech) where he played college football for the Georgia Tech football team as a halfback during the one-platoon system era. He also competed in track in the broad jump and high hurdles. A member of the class of 1927, he joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon as a freshman. He left college after his junior season, as alluded to in the school's 1926 yearbook, evidently to work in real estate in Miami. He was listed at and with Newark.

From March 1929 to March 1930, Connelly was the advertising and business manager of the National Aeronautic Association, based in Washington, D.C. In early 1945, Connelly and his wife purchased a "home of distinction" on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, Florida. Connelly was evidently an angler, having caught a barracuda during a fishing tournament in March 1947.

As of 1956, Connelly was active in real estate development in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Washington, D.C. In September 1957, he bought the Everglades Hotel in Miami for $2 million . He subsequently took out a mortgage on the property from the Teamsters Union, who foreclosed on the mortgage and acquired the property in 1960. By April 1963, Connelly was bankrupt. In May 1964, Connelly testified in court that he was required to pay 10% of the amount he borrowed from the Teamsters, then led by Jimmy Hoffa, as under-the-table commissions. Hoffa was convicted of fraud for his involvement with loans and kickbacks, including for the Everglades Hotel.

Connelly was married to M. Louise Connelly. She was also active in real estate; in 1959, the company she led purchased the historic Langford Building in Miami from the estate of Louis B. Mayer. As of mid-1967, the couple was living in Alexandria, Virginia.