Could Prentice Gautt have been used more when he played for Wilkinson (1957-59) ?
Maybe the substitution rule reduced his time at HB and he was a very good linebacker.
Watching his film, he looked like a man among boys. He had the perfect size, especially back then, at 5'11" 190 lbs.
Get this....when I was a kid I had a Confederate flag bedspread my mother had made....with Gautt's picture taped on the wall over the headboard.
CT...Those were VERY Turbulent Years in Norman. You would have had to have experienced, or at least witnessed, the happenings to understand the impact that Prentice enrolling at OU, then being allowed to join the football program, made on campus...From the BOR to the Coaches Offices to the Locker Room, and even onto the Playing Field. That was a divisive 'experiment', of sorts. The group of African Americans, mostly professional people, seemingly attempted to 'PUSH' Prentice into the role they had created for him, and there was plenty of 'Push Back'...from every corner of the campus, and it spread to every corner of the state.
It was a process, and even though it was handled as well as possible, it left scars, and hard feelings that were never completely healed.
There were no Protests…Sit-Ins…Marches. Prentice was not a part of a Group…He Had no black team mates, coaches/assistants, trainers. He was One…Solo…Singular…Alone. A lesser man would have crumbled. He came close.
IMO, Bud dealt with things very well…in the ‘Bud Way’. Bear in mind that this was a winning team. Every man was doing his job, and there were 3-4 more right behind each player, pushing him to do even better. Bud was not looking for, or actually needing, replacements. He and his staff didn’t recruit Prentice Gautt. Prentice was
Thrust Upon Him, and nothing about it was easy. There was No Seamless Transition…There were No Group Hugs. There was Jealousy, Bias, Resentment, and many other Ugly Emotions that you’d like to believe weren’t present, but they were there, and they created major problems.
To borrow from Thomas Paine’s
The Crisis,
‘These are the times that try men’s souls’ was a good description of what was going on during those dark days. In No Way am I comparing the integration of the Oklahoma Football Team with the magnitude of The American Revolution, but that statement adequately summarizes the situation. History was being made…Few of us knew it. Whether or not we accepted, or didn’t, the happenings, No One liked the discord, the confusion, and the volatile environment that had become part of ‘The Magic Circle’.
The Remarks, the Isolation, the Negativity…All were slow to improve, but through those months, Prentice stood tall. A lesser man could not/would not have. There were players who felt ‘entitled’ before we knew it as today’s buzz word. There was no Training Manual for integrating One Inexperienced Black Player into a Legendary All-White Team. No How-To Books or You Tubes. It was Trial & Error…Touch & Go…Two Steps Forward-One Back.
Could Bud have played Prentice more. Probably, but first he had to try to level the playing field.
He handled it just right…He eased Prentice through what had to be the most challenging time of both of their lives. He got acceptable results…Not great ones, but Bud’s Foresight, in knowing that integration was coming, allowed him to open the door, just a crack…then Prentice stepped through that door. Bud did not Push him through…
He Allowed Him the Opportunity to Enter. History was in the making, and an unimaginable footprint was left behind…
