Trailblazer Prentice Gautt Honored Ahead of Saturday's Football Game
11/9/2024 8:58:00 AM | General
Ahead of Saturday's Southeastern Conference football showdown at Memorial Stadium, friends, family and former colleagues gathered Friday night in Columbia to honor former University of Missouri football assistant coach and athletics administrator Prentice Gautt, a remarkable man who played a large role for both schools playing Saturday — and beyond. Gautt became the first Black scholarship football player at the University of Oklahoma in 1956, and during his time there, overcame prejudice and bigotry. He persevered and eventually became a two-time All-Big Eight Conference player and the Orange Bowl MVP in 1959. He entered the NFL draft the following year in 1960, and after a successful career in the NFL that spanned eight years, Gautt felt called to college athletics so he could help mentor student-athletes.
That's where Mizzou entered the picture.
In 1968, Gautt came to Columbia and took an assistant coaching job at Mizzou under legendary football coach Dan Devine, becoming the first Black assistant football coach in the Big Eight Conference. Gautt would later serve an integral role in the Mizzou athletics department.
Gautt, who died in 2005 at 67, was honored during a ceremony on Mizzou's campus Friday night at the Bond Life Sciences Center. Among the speakers and attendees: Mizzou athletics director Laird Veatch, Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione, longtime conference administrator and former College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock, plus dozens of former Mizzou student-athletes, including standouts Kellen Winslow, Corby Jones, Gus Otto and Howard Richards.
"Based on the number of former players that are coming back for this event, he meant a lot to the players, and I think he helped a lot of players find their post-football direction," said Bob Brendel, staff historian for Mizzou Athletics and the department's former communications director. "Obviously some of them went on and played professional football like he did, but the vast majority, of course, did not. He provided leadership to those athletes to find their way in the everyday world and not just the athletic world."
In order to further his work with student-athletes, Gautt took a step back from coaching and became a student advisor at Mizzou, while also working on earning his Ph.D. in counseling psychology. He also happened to meet his future wife, Sandra, who was teaching in the College of Education, during his time at Mizzou. In his administrative role at Mizzou, Gautt worked closely with the academic support programs for student-athletes. He helped strengthen resources available to Mizzou athletes, and his leadership in this area helped lay the groundwork for Mizzou's current commitment to supporting student-athletes' holistic development.
"That's where he saw his future," Brendel said. "I think he saw a real need in the athletics department at the time for student advisors, and it was a way that he could continue working with student-athletes while completing his degree. He always had the best interest of the student-athlete at heart."
Gautt's selfless service towards student-athletes led him outside of Mizzou to accept an administrative role in the Big Eight Conference as an assistant commissioner. When the Big Eight expanded to become the Big 12 in 1996, he became a senior advisor to the conference commissioner. Gautt's virtuous personality and hard-working attitude made a perfect combination to propel him to excel in his administrative duties, Brendel said.
"He never swore. He didn't drink. He was just a really kind, gentle man," Brendel said. "He was very wise. He never was boastful, but he had an opinion on the right way something should be done. And when he was asked, he always gave good counsel. (In the Big Eight) there was one faculty rep for each school that had a lot to do with policy making in the conference, and he was their liaison."
Gautt died March 17, 2005, and almost 20 years later, his legacy lives on in the hearts of his family, friends and the greater Mizzou and Oklahoma communities. The Big 12 honors his memory with postgraduate scholarships that share his name that have helped thousands of student-athletes in their transition from college to contributing members in society.
"It might not be obvious at first, but the impact he had on a lot of student-athletes has been passed on from one athlete to the next," Brendel said. "When those guys come back here every year, I'm sure they are passing on, whether they know it or not, they are passing on things to today's student-athletes that they learned from him when he was here."
