He was born in San Francisco and grew up in Redwood City, where his father James A. Gaughran taught him to swim at China Beach, adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge.

[2][3] Gaughran evolved into an outstanding swimmer and water polo player under coach Clyde Devine at Redwood City's Sequoia Union High School, where he graduated in 1950, and held records for the 50 and 100 yard freestyle.

[9][10][11] Gaughran swam and played college water polo for Stanford University beginning in the fall of 1950, and served as Captain of both teams in his Senior Year in 1954.

[15][16] After Stanford college graduation on June 12, 1954, at 21, he married Joan Ross McCrae at St. Annes Chapel in Palo Alto.

[15][8] He continued to develop his skills in Water Polo, with San Francisco's Olympic Club, and a year after college graduation competed in the Senior National AAU Championship in Chicago with nine other players, including his brother Robert.

[17] Two years after graduating Stanford, he became a member of the American water polo team which finished fifth in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

[6] In November, 1958, he and his brother Bob led the San Francisco Olympic Club to a Pacific Association AAU Championship.

[22] During his early years at Stanford, Gaughran served as an assistant water polo coach for the U.S. team at the 1963 Pan American Games in Brazil.

[12] Of considerable importance in Jim's career was his managing a swimming team trip which the U.S. State Department sponsored to China in 1973 during the early history of normalizing relations with the Chinese government.

[36][37][12] On April 1, 1987, he and ten other living coaches were selected to receive the Baton of Victory Award at the University of Texas at Austin as a winner of the NCAA swimming championships.

Three non-living recipients received the award, which was the creation of University of Alabama Swim Coach Ray Bussard and his wife Ruth.