December 8, 2006
Schools Foundation to Dedicate Early Childhood Classroom
Contact: Susan Esau, Executive Director, 330-2790 or sesau@usd497

The Lawrence Schools Foundation will dedicate a preschool classroom this month in memory of a college and professional football standout with ties to Lawrence. The public is invited to the dedication of the Prentice Gautt Early Childhood Classroom at 9:30 a.m. on December 14, at the East Heights Early Childhood Family Center, 1430 Haskell Avenue. A reception and tour of the center will follow.

As the first African-American to play football at Oklahoma University, Prentice Gautt earned All-American, Academic All-American, and All-Conference honors. He was MVP of the 1959 Orange Bowl. Gautt played in the NFL for eight years with the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Cardinals, retiring in 1967. Off the field, Gautt worked as an assistant commissioner for the Big 8 and Big 12 Conferences, and served as secretary and treasurer of the NCAA. Gautt lived in Lawrence from 1990 until his death on March 17, 2005, at the age of 67. He is survived by his wife, Sandra Whayne Gautt, associate professor of special education at the University of Kansas, and a son, Roger Gautt, of Houston, Texas.  

Lawrence resident William A. Dann donated $50,000 this past summer to the Lawrence Schools Foundation to support the early childhood program. Dann chose to honor Gautt’s memory with his gift because of Gautt’s accomplishments as an athlete and professional, for his dedication to academic excellence, and his legacy as a warm, caring man of quiet dignity. The preschool classroom won’t be the first public setting to bear Gautt’s name; in 1999, OU opened the Prentice Gautt Academic Center.

Sandra Gautt and Lawrence Journal-World Sports Writer Chuck Woodling will serve as guest speakers at the dedication ceremony.  “The Foundation will also honor William Dann for his ongoing support of the early childhood “Readiness” program, and we’ll present our 2006 Friends of Early Childhood Education Award to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Moore of Lawrence for their generous contributions to the program,” said Foundation Executive Director Susan Esau..

The Lawrence Schools Foundation supports the goal that “All children will start school ready to learn.” Private donations to the Foundation support the early childhood program. The “Readiness” preschool program began with the establishment of the first classroom at East Heights in 1996. Per the wishes of benefactor, William Dann, early childhood classroom dedications have honored former educators Jesse Milan, Gertrude Ruttan, and Ray Wilbur, and civic leaders including the Honorable Jean Shepherd, Anna “Petey” Ballard Cerf, Nancy Shontz, and Elgin Woody, Senior. Dann requested that an infant-toddler classroom be dedicated in memory of students LaTonya Farmer and Brandy Martin, who were killed in a Lawrence house fire. Dann’s donations to the program total approximately $400,000.

The East Heights Early Childhood Family Center’s library bears the name of the Ethel and Raymond Rice Foundation, another major contributor to the program. In addition, memorial contributions to the Foundation led to the dedication of a playroom there in memory of Addison Wheeler, infant daughter of Megan and Chris Wheeler of Lawrence.

Gifts to the Lawrence Schools Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, are tax deductible to the full extent allowable by law. The Board of Trustees encourages gifts to the Early Childhood Educational Readiness Program, and asks that all donations be directed to Executive Director Susan Esau in care of the Lawrence Schools Foundation, 110 McDonald Drive, Lawrence, KS 66044.

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