An estimated 500 mourners packed the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday morning for the funeral of Prentice Gautt.

Gautt, a Big 12 Conference administrator who had lived in Lawrence since 1990, died Thursday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He was 67.

In 1956, legendary Oklahoma University football coach Bud Wilkinson tapped Gautt, who had attended high school in Oklahoma City, to break the school’s color barrier.

“My father knew it would take a special person,” Jay Wilkinson told the standing-room-only throng. “He knew it would take someone with a deep intellectual capacity as well as inner strength.”

Gautt endured racial indignities, but went on to become a fan favorite, an All-Big Eight running back and MVP of the 1959 Orange Bowl. In 1999, OU officials opened the Prentice Gautt Academic Center.

“His great heart and generous forgiveness made it impossible for him to stop loving people despite all that was done and said,” said Raymond Fancher, interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church.

Gautt was an elder, taught Sunday school classes and served on numerous committees at the church.

“Prentice had a vision, and he showed us a better way to behave,” Fancher said. “He showed us a better way to be.”

The sanctuary was filled with people from the world of athletics.

Among the attendees were Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and football coach Bob Stoops; Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg and his predecessor, Steve Hatchell; Texas AD DeLoss Dodds; Missouri AD Mike Alden; and K-State AD Tim Weiser and football coach Bill Snyder.

Several past and current members of the KU athletic department were on hand, including AD Lew Perkins and former AD Bob Frederick. Chancellor Robert Hemenway also attended.

Burial was in Oak Hill Cemetery.