Vaughn Corley and the Vaughn Corley Memorial Award

In the early years 1929-1952, the Intramural program was watched over by an all student Intramural Council. In 1935, the Intramural council drew up and passed a new constitution, elected a student manager, and drew up the yearly schedule. From 1945 to 1952, the students ran the program completely and had a student Intramural Director and they paid him a monthly salary. In 1952, Vaughn Corley took over as Intramural Director. This was just a side job, as Coach Corley was a full professor and faculty member. From this time on there has been an Intramural Director at NMSU. He was the acting head of the Intramural Council, now the Intramural Policy Board.
Vaughn D. Corley was fondly known as Coach Corley to the thousands of students whose lives he touched in his forty-four years of teaching and coaching. Coach Corley came to Las Cruces in 1929 following his graduation from Texas Tech. He served as head coach of all boys’ athletics and taught Physical Education at Las Cruces Union high school. In 1933 he joined the coaching staff at New Mexico A&AM as Assistant Football and Basketball coach and Head Coach for Track, Wrestling and Boxing as well as being an instructor in Physical Education. In 1939 He moved to the University of Oregon and later served as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Navy during the war years. In 1948, Coach Corley, his wife Bernice and son, Skip returned to Las Cruces and New Mexico A&AM where he became Head Football Coach until 1950. In 1951, he became Director of Intramurals until his retirement. During that time the Intramural program became one of the largest in the Southwest. Because of his interest and efforts, the National Intramural Association met in NMSU in 1962 with Coach Corley serving as Convention Manager. This was the first time this convention had ever been held west of the Mississippi River. In 1963, Coach Corley served the NIA as Vice President. He was elected to the New Mexico Aggies Sports Association Hall of Fame in 1977. Coach Corley passed away in 1977.

In 1978, the Vaughn Corley Memorial Award was established in his honor to recognize outstanding leadership in Intramural activities.