Courtesy: Big 12 Sports
The scholarships are named in honor of the late Dr. Prentice Gautt, a former Big 12 Conference staff member and student services’ pioneer who passed away in March 2005. The list of all-time recipients has grown to 461 since the inception of the league in 1996-97. Starting in 2002-03, additional funding increased scholarship award winners to two per member institution.
To date the Big 12 has provided over $3.5 million for postgraduate education. The individual grants began at $2,500 in 1996-97, were raised to $5,000 in 1999 and increased to $6,900 for 2004-05. The awards climbed to $7,500 in 2006-07, moved to $9,000 in 2011-12 and have been at $10,000 since 2013-14.
Criteria for the awards includes a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.200 on a 4.000 scale, participation in at least two years of intercollegiate athletics at the nominee’s respective institution. The student-athletes must graduate from their respective member institutions and enroll in graduate or professional school of their choice within 15 months of their selection of the postgraduate scholarship. Three faculty athletic representatives, one director of athletics, one senior woman administrator, one head athletics trainer and the chair and vice-chair of the Big 12 Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee form the selection panel for the awards.
2019-20 Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship Recipients
| Baylor | Grace Thiel | Equestrian |
| Baylor | Andy Thomas | Baseball |
| Iowa State | Emma Ruehle | Swimming & Diving |
| Iowa State | Hank Swalla | Wrestling |
| Kansas | Xinyun Yu | Golf |
| Kansas | Benjamin Sems | Baseball |
| Kansas State | Katie Cramer | Soccer |
| Kansas State | Ethan Powell | Track & Field |
| Oklahoma | Andrea Batchev | Rowing |
| Oklahoma | Connor McGinnis | Football |
| Oklahoma State | Mackenzie Thomas | Softball |
| Oklahoma State | Trey Reeves | Basketball |
| TCU | Laska Anderson | Equestrian |
| TCU | Radu Duican | Swimming & Diving |
| Texas | Alison Gibson | Swimming & Diving |
| Texas | John Burt | Football & Track |
| Texas Tech | Reagan Collins | Tennis |
| Texas Tech | Kyle Hogan | Golf |
| West Virginia | Abigail Kaufman | Gymnastics |
| West Virginia | David Koenders | Rifle |