Bill Mercer Is On Kera 90.1 Radio 1-2 Pm

[Smitty]

Bill has a new book out about his career, called Play By Play.

[gruu]

Sweet!

[PlummMeanGreen]

Whoops...

Edited September 5, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[PlummMeanGreen]

When Bill Mercer was in his prime, he was as good a sports broadcaster as there was in the Southwest IMO. As I recall, he was one of the first (if not the first) members of the Dallas Cowboys radio broadcasting team. He and Don Drysdale were the first broadcast duo tandem of the Texas Rangers in 1972 and of course, those Saturday night wrestling matches from the Sportatorium. The very first NT Mean Green football games many of us ever heard broadcast were by Bill Mercer, the original Voice of the Mean Green.

On one of anniversaries of the JFK assassination, our DFW local PBS affiliate KERA (Ch. 13) ran hours and hours of film footage of the happenings of that black Friday for many of us who still remember where we were when we heard the news.

In old Dallas City Hall (or was it the Police Station?) the cameras were panning the crowd as they brought Lee Harvey Oswald in to a side room for questioning. Among some of the faces that day in the pandemonium that was taking place was a very young Bill Mercer who I believe was a newsman for Channel 4, ie, KRLD-TV (as known then).

Also among that crowd that day with the camera man panning the room were very, very young (and unknown) future broadcast icons such as Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, former Dentonite Jim Leherer (sp?) of the McNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS and Bob Schieffer, the TCU alum of which his alma mater named their journalism school. BTW, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald called Schieffer over at the Fort Worth Star Telegram when he was a cub reporter and actually asked him for a ride over to Dallas.

Whoops, I've started rambling now haven't I?

Congrats Bill Mercer! We Have Not Forgotten You!

Edited September 5, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[gruu]

Oh, man... Smitty, I found out about Bill Mercer's new book, "Play-by-Play" from this post. I went to a bit of trouble finding a bookstore nearby that had a copy. Several had sold out including the Denton location that held a book signing with Bill just this past Saturday. I just finished reading the first 122 pages, the one all about football, and could not put it down. I lived a few of the stories he tells and remember them well. He talks a lot... I mean... a lot about NT in the book. If you really want a deeper understanding of the history of UNT athletics, from its own broadcaster (1959-1994), this is a must read. Oh, my, my...

[Smitty]

It is available from Amazon

[NT80]

I just bought a copy at UTD and had Bill sign it there before his speech today. He's looking good and sounds great. Nice pic of him on the cover of the book getting ready to call a game in the SuperPit (noticed the great Kenny Lyons name on the scorecard). If you're an NTSU/UNT fan (or early Rangers fan or Wrestling fan from back then) you need a copy of this book!

[gruu]

I just bought a copy at UTD and had Bill sign it there before his speech today. He's looking good and sounds great. Nice pic of him on the cover of the book getting ready to call a game in the SuperPit (noticed the great Kenny Lyons name on the scorecard). If you're an NTSU/UNT fan (or early Rangers fan or Wrestling fan from back then) you need a copy of this book!

I agree completely.