Bill Mercer

Bill Mercer (born February 1926) is an American sportscaster, educator and author, originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, who now lives in Richardson, Texas. In 2002, he was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.cite web|url=http://www.texasradiohalloffame.com/mercer.html|title=Bill Mercer Bio|work=Texas Radio Hall of Fame]

Personal

During World War II he served in the Navy from 1943-1946 aboard the USS Rixie and USS LCI(G)439 as a Signalman. Mercer headed to college after the war where he received a Bachelors degree from the University of Denver in 1949 and a masters degree from North Texas State University in 1966.

Career

Mercer was best known as a play-by-play radio announcer for baseball, football, basketball and wrestling. He was also a news reporter for KRLD covering the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963. He and fellow reporters George Phenix, Wes Wise and Bob Huffaker wrote "When the News Went Live" about their experiences during that time. [cite book|last= Huffaker |first=Bob |coauthors= George Phenix, Wes Wise, Bill Mercer|title=When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|date=October 15, 2004|isbn=1589791398] Mercer also wrote " [cite book|last=Mercer|first=Bill|title=Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider|publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing|isbn=978-1589792241] Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider" about his experiences in sportscasting. Mercer spent over 35 years teaching new generations of sports broadcasters in the University of North Texas Radio/TV Department .

Play by Play

In his 60+ year career Mercer provided play-by-play broadcasting for minor league teams first the Muskogee Giants of the Class C Western Association; [Dallas Rangers] (Triple A baseball) from 1959-64, Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs (Texas League baseball) 1965-1971. He then moved up to broadcast for major league baseball teams Texas Rangers (major league baseball) in 1972 (with Don Drysdale) and Chicago White Sox in 1974. Mercer also provided play-by-play for University of North Texas football and basketball from 1959-1994. Dallas Texans (American Football League in 1960 with Charlie Jones, Dallas Cowboys (National Football League) from 1966-1971 including the team's Super Bowl appearance in 1972. He provided color commentary with Jay Randolph in 1965 for the Dallas Cowboys and then became the play-by-play announcer when Randolph moved to St. Louis. In the 1980's Mercer broadcast Southwest Conference football and basketball for Mutual Radio. He also assisted Mike Capps with play-by-play for the Round Rock Express minor league baseball of the Texas League and currently the Pacific Coast League and the past three years with Scott Garner of the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League. While at KRLD in Dallas he served 7 years as color commentator for CBS Radio Cotton Bowl college football bowl games. He is also famous for calling the famous "Ice Bowl"', the NFL championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in 1967, along with the Cowboys' first two Super Bowl appearances (also for the NFL championship).

During his time at UNT, he called games involving Kevin Adkisson and Steve Williams, who both became professional wrestlers under the names Kevin Von Erich and Stone Cold Steve Austin respectively. He also was the announcer at UNT when Joe Greene was an All American Greene later starred for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wrestling

Mercer provided play-by-play announcer for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), based in Dallas. Mercer also worked as a wrestling announcer in the 1950s in Muskogee, Oklhoma and late 50"s and 1960s both at the Dallas Sportatorium and during in-studio wrestling events at KRLD-TV (present day KDFW-TV) Channel 4.

During his time with World Class, he, Mickey Grant and Gary Hart became prominent figures in the success of the organization.

Awards

* Texas Radio Hall of Fame (2002 inductee)
* University of North Texas Athletic Department Hall of Fame
* Texas Baseball Ex-Pro's Baseball Hall of Fame
* Oklahoma Sports Museum, Guthrie, Oklahoma: The Bill Teegins Awardfact|date=July 2008

Bibliography

* "When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963." ISBN 1589791398
* "Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider" ISBN 978-1589792241

References