Dave Barnett learned a lot to hear and watch Bill Mercer, the legendary sports broadcaster over the years, who helped him change his life after at least a bit of a tough start.
Like many boys who grew up in the 1970s and ’80s, Barnett, the voice of North Texas track and field, loved watching Mercer call world-class championship wrestling.
“My brother and I tried out the wrestling moves that learn to watch Fritz von Erich, Killer Karl Cox and Scandor Akbar,” recalls Barnett this week. “Mummy didn’t like us wrestling on the floor while we were watching Bill Mercer.”
Mercer’s memories have returned to the flood for many influential broadcasters and media members after his death on Saturday at the age of 99.
The family wrestling match at the Burnett Family’s home may have been the only time Mercer misled one of them in a wide range of careers in sports media, news and education.
Mercer covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and entered the Texas Rangers’ first season in 1972, featuring football and basketball games for the Dallas Cowboys, the American Football League’s Dallas Texans, the Chicago White Sox and the Southwest Conference. He was also the voice of North Texas track and field.
Mercer was the soundtrack for generations of sports fans. He saw him covering a variety of events with skills and care that are widely respected in the media business.
“It’s going to be difficult to find a broadcaster who had a career like Bill,” said Ted Emilig, who studied under Mercer and now calls ESPN games. “He called so many sports, had a news background and a mentorship legacy. He was very influential.”
Mercer was a well-known wrestling announcer in Muscogee, Oklahoma in the 1950s before moving through Dallas.
The number of groundbreaking moments covered after landing in Dallas is countless.
Mercer told Lee Harvey Oswald that he was accused of killing Kennedy in the media scrum in 1963. He called the UNT game when Abner Haynes and Leon King became the first black athletes to play college football in Texas in 1956.
The time to call world-class championship wrestling in Mercer’s era was not as serious as some of the events he covered in news and college and even professional sports, but made him a prominent figure all over the world.
These experiences portrayed Mercer’s time teaching at UNT for 35 years. Former Mercer students who continued to work in the media are often referred to as the “Mercer Mafia.”
“Bill’s influence as a teacher is far more widespread than what he did as a broadcaster even though he reached the wrestling circle,” said Craig Way, one of Mercer’s former students. “He was named the fourth most popular (television personality) in the Israeli survey behind von Elichs in the 1980s, but his influence was far beyond what he did on television and radio because of the way students were fostering better broadcasters and better people.”
A former Mercer student says he is amazed at the way he conveyed knowledge he gained over the years. I was amazed at how Mercer could summarise the key aspects of calling the game to the basics outlined on the blackboard a few days before PowerPoint.
“I can’t speak for other individuals in Northern Texas, but they all feel strongly that we are not with us today in each of our sports media careers without Bill’s mentoring, education and guidance.” “We learned a lot from him. He was an incredible teacher and understood the skills of sports media, especially the sports playgrounds.
“He had the crafts to teach it.”
Mercer sends out the students and asks them to come back with the fans around them from the stands and call the game out of the stands and call the action. He believed that if students could tackle these harsh environments, they could handle sitting on the press box or courtside.
“You’ll submit it. Next week, if a few sheets from his legal pad are red pens in audio quality and you’re giving him enough time and scores,” Emilich said. “He knew what was made for a great broadcast and how to tell us all about it.”
These critiques did not stop when Mercer students left.
Way still let Mercer hear his broadcasts for many years.
“It was like a golfer going to swing coach,” Wei said. “We need someone to listen with critical ears and give the guidance they need. In most cases, he says, “I don’t know why I’m doing this. He gave me great guidance for decades when I took my classes in 1982, ’83, ’84.”
Mercer taught well beyond his retirement age and was in close contact with former students. He enjoyed talking about his time in the Navy during World War II and how they carried them in their broadcast careers.
Way is sure Mercer may have intervened for a short time to air the game at 99. Until a few months ago, Mercer exchanged emails with former students.
Burnett was one of Mercer’s former students whom he contacted decades after his mother turned the TV over and wrestling in the living room.
“I never saw Bill in a bad mood,” Burnett said. “I visited him last summer and he didn’t lose things mentally. He recalls incredible details about his life, which was a blessing.
