The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

April 12, 1999

Oklahoma to recognize GauttIn 1956, Prentice Gautt came to the University of Oklahoma to play football. As the first African-American football player at Oklahoma, Gautt faced many obstacles and overcame them with grace and dignity.

Now Gautt's contributions to Oklahoma will be formally recognized as the university's athletics academic center will be renamed the Prentice Gautt Academic Center.

Gautt currently serves as an associate commissioner of the Big 12 Conference, assisting the CHAMPS/Life Skills programs at all Big 12 institutions.

While Gautt now leads the way for services designed to assist student-athletes, he once led the way in integrating the sport of football.

Gautt played in the first integrated high-school football game in Oklahoma, leading Douglass High to a 13-6 win. And he also became the first African-American to play in the state all-star game.

When Gautt went to college, he became the first African-American to play football for the Sooners. Initially he came to campus on a scholarship funded by a group of prominent black doctors and pharmacists in Oklahoma City.

Less than two months into Gautt's freshman year, he had so impressed legendary Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson that the private money was returned and an athletics scholarship was offered in its place.

As a player, Gautt faced discrimination numerous times, especially in hotels and restaurants when the team traveled. Many times the team changed its arrangements when Gautt was denied service.

But Gautt excelled, both on and off the field. He was a two-time all-Big Eight Conference honoree, he led the Sooners in rushing in 1958 and 1959 and he was named Most Valuable Player of the 1959 Orange Bowl, a 21-6 Oklahoma win over Syracuse University. Gautt went on to play professionally for the St. Louis Browns in 1960 and the St. Louis Cardinals from 1961 to 1967.

An academic all-American, Gautt ultimately became an academic counselor and earned his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has gone on to work with student-athletes, becoming among the first in the nation to recognize student-athletes' needs as whole persons rather than just as athletes.

"His actions, while at OU as a student-athlete and since as an athletics administrator, have paved the way for so many other student-athletes to succeed," said Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma's director of athletics.

"His positive impact on student-athletes across the country and specifically here at OU goes on without end and is his legacy to us," Castiglione said. "This action also recognizes a man who has devoted his professional career to helping student-athletes understand that there is life beyond the field of competition, that a playing career does come to an end, and that one must be prepared for the game of life. It is only fitting that we honor his gifts as a student, athlete, administrator and gentleman in this way."

Formal ceremonies to rename the center, which is housed in the north end of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, will be held this fall in conjunction with a Sooners football game.

Record-setting outing

The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, baseball team's recent win over Chicago State University in the second game of a double-header in Lincoln was one for the record books.

The 50-3 Nebraska victory set NCAA Division I records for runs, margin of victory and runs batted in.

The previous Division I mark for runs in a game was held by West Chester University of Pennsylvania, which had scored 42 against Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science in 1992.

The previous record for margin of victory was 41, shared by West Chester and Georgia Institute of Technology.

The 48 runs batted in by Nebraska shattered the previous record of 37, held by both West Chester and by Clemson University, which had set its record against North Carolina State University in 1979.

Eight Huskers belted nine home runs in the game, including the first career home runs for Scott Larsen, Adam Stern and Brian Kent.

1,000-point trifecta

Good things came in threes at Muhlenberg College this February.

Three Muhlenberg senior basketball players reached the 1,000-point milestone on three consecutive Tuesday nights in February. And, each player finished each landmark game with exactly 1,000 career points.

Jim Doumato got the ball rolling with 17 points against Ursinus College February 2. Sarah Clarke scored the 13 points she needed on February 9 at Haverford College. A week later, Jill Roth's steal and layup against Swarthmore College completed the trifecta.

Clarke and Roth were only the third and fourth 1,000-point scorers in women's team history. Doumato was the 29th Muhlenberg men's player to reach 1,000.

Looking back

5 years ago: The NCAA Presidents Commission tackles a range of topics during its March 31-April 1 meeting, including the possibility of biennial legislative Conventions. The 1994 Convention, with the passage of Proposal No. 20, ordered an examination of the possibility of biennial legislative meetings. The Commission expressed concern that such an approach might be perceived as an attempt to prevent the membership from altering previously approved legislation. However, it stressed that any examination of this issue was being done in good faith and noted that provisions could be built into the pro-cess for emergency legislation in nonlegislative years. (The NCAA News, April 6, 1994)

10 years ago: More than 90 percent of Division I basketball-playing institutions will share in the proceeds from the 51st Division I Men's Basketball Championship. Because all automatic-qualifying conferences have a place in the revenue-sharing formula for tournament receipts, 266 of 293 Division I basketball-playing schools will receive a portion of the proceeds, estimated to be $31,024,800. (The NCAA News, March 29, 1989)

15 years ago: The NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee adopts a coaching-box rule, effective for the 1984-85 season. Coaching-box experiments were used in six Division I conferences during the 1983-84 season. The rule is intended to improve bench decorum and image of the game. The committee also approved continued experimentation with the 45-second shot clock and the 19-foot, nine-inch three-point line. (The NCAA News, April 4, 1984)