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William A. Mercer (born February 13, 1926) is an American sportscaster, educator and author. Originally from Muskogee, Oklahoma, he has retired to Durham, North Carolina after a long residence in Richardson, Texas. In 2002, he was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. [1]
During World War II, Mercer served in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 aboard the USS Rixey and USS LCI(G)–439 (Landing Craft Infantry – Gunboat) as a signalman. Mercer's ships participated in five invasions: Marshall Islands, Guam, Leyte, Luzon and Okinawa. He is included in the list of notable surviving veterans of World War II. [2] Mercer first attended college at Northeastern State College in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, after the war. He then earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Denver in 1949 and a master's degree from North Texas State University in Denton, Texas in 1966. [1] Mercer's Granddaughter Emma Tiedemann is the play-by-play voice of the Portland Sea Dogs in Portland, Maine.
Mercer is best known as a play-by-play radio announcer for baseball, football, basketball and wrestling. He was also a news reporter for Dallas, Texas television station 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. [3] Mercer also wrote, [4] Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider, about his experiences in sportscasting. He enjoyed a stint as a sports anchor at KVIL radio station in Dallas-Fort Worth during the 1970s and 80s, alongside longtime morning host Ron Chapman. Mercer also spent over 35 years teaching new generations of sports broadcasters in the University of North Texas's Radio/TV Department. [1] He was also recognized by the University of Texas at Dallas Athletic Department for his involvement with their live game broadcasts. [5]
On the day of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (November 22, 1963), Mercer was a news anchor and reporter with Dallas radio station KRLD. Mercer covered the topic extensively from the field for KRLD and later became the first reporter to inform the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, that he would be charged with murder for his actions. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
In his 60+ year career, Mercer provided play-by-play broadcasting for several minor league teams: First, the Muskogee Giants of the Class C Western Association, then the Dallas Rangers (Triple A baseball) from 1959 to 1964, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs (Texas League baseball) from 1965 to 1971. He then moved up to broadcast for major league baseball's 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 (known as North Texas State College until 1961, and North Texas State University from 1961 to 1988) football and basketball from 1959 to 1994. Mercer's first broadcasts for professional teams began with the Dallas Texans (American Football League) in 1960 with Charlie Jones, then for the Dallas Cowboys (National Football League) from 1966 to 1971. Initially, Mercer provided color commentary with Jay Randolph in 1965 for the Cowboys, then became the play-by-play announcer when Randolph moved to St. Louis the following year. In the 1980s, Mercer broadcast Southwest Conference football and basketball for Mutual Radio. In the 2000s, he assisted Mike Capps with play-by-play for Round Rock Express minor league baseball of the Texas League (currently in the Pacific Coast League,) and for three years with Scott Garner of the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League. While at KRLD-AM/TV in Dallas, he served seven years as color commentator for CBS Radio's annual broadcasts of the Cotton Bowl Classic college football game. [1] Mercer is also noted for calling the "Ice Bowl," the NFL championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers in 1967, along with the Cowboys' second Super Bowl appearance in January, 1972.
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 Dr. Death, respectively. He also was the announcer in 1959 at UNT when Abner Haynes broke the color line in Texas and later became a star with the second incarnation of the Dallas Texans (American Football League). Mercer provided play-by-play announcing for the internationally acclaimed World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), based in Dallas, from 1982 to 1987. Telecasts were originally shown on Dallas-Fort Worth station KXTX, Channel 39. Mercer became a wrestling announcer in the 1950s in Muskogee, Oklahoma during the course of broadcasting all area sports for local radio station KMUS. By the late 1950s, Mercer had relocated to Dallas and began calling televised wrestling matches at the Dallas Sportatorium and in the studio for KRLD-TV (present day KDFW-TV,) Channel 4. In early 1976, Mercer took over announcing duties for the long-running Saturday Night Wrestling program on KTVT, Channel 11, in Fort Worth, when original announcer Dan Coates retired. [11]
George Allen "Pat" Summerall was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announced 16 Super Bowls on network television, 26 Masters Tournaments, and 21 US Opens. He contributed to 10 Super Bowl broadcasts on CBS Radio as a pregame host or analyst.
Lawrence Harry Munson was an American sports announcer and talk-show host based out of the U.S. city of Athens, Georgia. He was best known for handling radio play-by-play of University of Georgia Bulldogs football games from 1966 to 2008. He also handled the play-by-play for UGA basketball and Atlanta Falcons radio broadcasts and hosted sports-related talk shows.
Curtis Edward Gowdy was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s. He coined the nickname "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the Rose Bowl Game, taking the moniker from the Cheyenne Frontier Days in his native Wyoming.
Jody Dean is an American journalist and author and a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. During his career, Dean has worked with, interviewed, or performed with thousands of public figures, actors, musicians, authors, artists, and comics. Most recently, he hosted a weekly half-hour TV program for CBS-11 entitled "More Life with Jody Dean" - featuring uplifting and inspiring stories during the heart of the COVID pandemic and lockdowns. Since then, Dean has returned to acting and film work. A seasoned stage performer, he has most recently appeared in streaming series such as The Chosen and Lawmen: Bass Reeves, and has also taken an interest in behind-the-scenes work such as set design and construction. Dean stars as "Charles" in the upcoming independent short Chiquita, and has lead and featured roles in several other pending projects and shows.
KNTU is the radio station owned and operated by the University of North Texas. The signal of the station covers much of the Dallas and Fort Worth Metroplex with an indie alternative format.
KRLD is a commercial AM radio station in Dallas, Texas. Owned and operated by Audacy, Inc., the station carries an all news radio format on weekdays, switching to mostly non-political talk radio nights and weekends. Syndicated shows include The Dave Ramsey Show, Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb and America in the Morning with John Trout. Some weekends hours carry paid brokered programming. Most hours begin with CBS News Radio. The studios and offices are in Uptown Dallas.
Walter Benton Garrison was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Eric Nadel is an American sports announcer on radio broadcasts for the Texas Rangers baseball organization. In 2014, he was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Troy Kenneth Aikman is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from the Oklahoma Sooners, he played college football for the UCLA Bruins and won the Davey O'Brien Award as a senior. Aikman was selected first overall in the 1989 NFL draft by the Cowboys, with whom he received six Pro Bowl selections and won three Super Bowls. He was also named MVP of Super Bowl XXVII, the franchise's first title in over a decade. Aikman was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
George William Dunham ; is an American radio personality and member of the Musers in Dallas, Texas. Dunham co-hosts the show with long-time friend and college roommate Craig Miller, along with their co-host Gordon Keith. A 1988 graduate of the University of North Texas, Dunham served as the football play-by-play commentator for the school's Mean Green Radio Network from 1994 until 2014. His first on-air experience was at KNTU, the University of North Texas campus radio station. His son was offered and accepted a football scholarship to attend UNT beginning in fall of 2010. Dunham talks about his past and playing football in junior high against hated rival Fredericksburg when he played special teams at Llano Junior High. Dunham's junior high football coach commonly referred to a player at Fredericksburg, called Pie Eater. Anthony Lynn, LA Chargers head coach and former Texas Tech running back during a radio interview on Thursday, June 20, 2019, asked Dunham about Pie Eater the former punter at Fredericksburg Junior High. Dunham is a 1983 graduate of Carrollton R. L. Turner High School.
Brad Michael Sham is an American sportscaster who is known as the "Voice of the Dallas Cowboys". Sham is currently the play-by-play announcer on the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network.
Charlie Jones was an American sportscaster for NBC and ABC.
Frank John Glieber was a versatile American sportscaster known primarily for his play-by-play commentary on NFL telecasts for CBS Sports. Along the way, he served as a mentor to several athletes and coaches who made the transition to the broadcast booth, a list that included Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Joe Greene, Oakland Raiders head coach John Madden and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil among others.
John Holliday Bobbitt, known professionally as Johnny Holliday, is an American radio and television sportscaster and a former Top 40 radio disc jockey. He has maintained a long association with the University of Maryland football and basketball teams and from 2007 to 2018 hosted a pre- and post-game television program for the Washington Nationals baseball team.
David Lane Barnett is an American play-by-play broadcaster who calls Big 12 baseball games on Fox Sports 1 and football and men's basketball for the University of North Texas (UNT). He was formerly an ESPN personality and a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Texas Rangers.
The Dallas Cowboys Radio Network is an American radio network broadcasting all Dallas Cowboys football games to stations across all of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico during the NFL season. Since the 2009 NFL season, it has been an arm of Entercom and comprises over 50 stations with KRLD-FM in Dallas being the flagship station. Prior to 2009, Cowboys games were broadcast on 1310 AM KTCK "The Ticket" and 93.3 FM KDBN "The Bone", and also previously on 103.7 KVIL FM and 98.7 FM KLUV "K-LUV". Beginning in the 2011 NFL season, a separate contract allows a second network to be carried nationwide through Compass Media Networks, but it is not the official Dallas Cowboys Radio Network.
Mark Duane Followill is an American sports announcer, currently for Bally Sports, covering basketball, soccer and football.
Art Hains is an American broadcaster in Springfield, Missouri, who serves as voice of the Missouri State Bears. His voice is also heard on the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network.
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