It had been nearly a decade since Terry Vaughn’s days with the Calgary Stampeders when he decided to retire from the Canadian Football League in 2007.

After his four-year stint in Calgary, the sure-handed receiver played eight more seasons in the CFL including six with the Stamps’ northern rivals, the Edmonton Eskimos. Yet when it came time to call it quits, Vaughn wanted to do so with the Red and White and so he signed a one-day contract with the Stamps to provide matched book-ends for his magnificent career.

“I never thought I should have left,” said Vaughn of his desire to retire as a member of the Stampeders. “Me and (former Stamps head coach and general manager Wally Buono) joke now about how he thinks letting me go was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made.”

Vaughn, a product of the University of Arizona Wildcats, arrived in Calgary in 1995 and made an immediate impression. He made 72 catches — a Stamps rookie record that was later tied by Nik Lewis — for 1,031 yards. The totals set the tone for his career as he surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau each year for the next decade to establish a pair of league records that still stand — most 1,000-yard seasons (11) and most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (also 11).

His career total of 1,006 catches held up until the 2010 campaign when he was bumped down to second place by Montreal’s Ben Cahoon, who was Vaughn’s Montreal teammate in 2005 when he registered his 11th straight 1,000-yard season.

In four seasons with the Stamps, Vaughn compiled 308 catches for 4,257 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Unlike the rangy Allen Pitts, one of the other great receivers in Stamps history, Vaughn was a relatively small target at five-foot-nine, but his sharp routes, intelligence, reliable hands and quickness made him a standout as both a wide receiver and a slotback. He was an eight-time division all-star and a three-time CFL all-star.

“He was something special,” said Hall-of-Famer Ron Lancaster of Vaughn back in 2006. “He was something to watch.”

The combination of his consistency and leadership skills greatly benefitted Vaughn’s teams, who made five trips to the Grey Cup game with the receiver in the lineup and won a pair of titles, including Calgary’s triumph in the 1998 championship contest.

Team success had a way of following Vaughn around, or perhaps it’s more accurate to say he had a knack for dragging it with him. Over his career, Vaughn’s teams were an amazing 40 games over .500 (124-84) and five times he played on a club that finished 12-6 or better.

After winning four straight Labour Day Classics as a member of the Stamps, Vaughn switched sides and won four more in succession as an Edmonton Eskimo.

And yet, despite the accomplishments and winning track record, Vaughn had a tendency to be overlooked during his career. In Calgary, Pitts was the marquee pass-catcher. In Edmonton, while Vaughn was on the verge of becoming the first player to record 10 straight 1,000-yard seasons, all the attention was on Mike Pringle’s quest to become the CFL’s all-time leading rusher.

Despite being the only man with 1,000 career catches at the time, Vaughn was slotted in at the relatively modest No. 45 slot — behind 10 other receivers — on the CFL’s 50 greatest players of all-time list compiled by TSN.

“He doesn’t get as much publicity or credit as he deserves,” said Milt Stegall, the flashy former Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver once remarked about Vaughn.

Some of that overdue credit will come Vaughn’s way this season with his induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, with the ceremonies fittingly taking place in the place it all began — Calgary.