Radio Host and Pro Wrestling Commentator Bill Mercer Has Died

Legendary sports broadcaster and Texas Radio Hall of Famer Bill Mercer has died.

Mercer passed away at the age of 99 on Saturday, March 22 from an aortic aneurysm, his daughter, Laura Tiedemann, confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.

An aortic aneurysm is a bulge that occurs in the wall the aorta, per Mayo Clinic. Although Tiedemann said her father had it repaired on several occasions, she said it “wasn’t possible to fix this time,” and Mercer passed away peacefully. She added that her father “lived a very full life. He was a great dad, grandfather and husband, and [he] also had a fantastic voice and career.”

Mercer’s career spanned six decades and began after her relocated to North Texas to attend North Texas State University, now known as the University of North Texas, after serving in World War II, according to WFAA. He began his career as a wrestling announcer in the ‘50s, and gained recognition the following decade for his coverage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination as a reporter for Dallas’ KRLD radio. Mercer was the first person to inform Lee Harvey Oswald he had been charged with murdering the late president.

Born in 1926, Mercer is perhaps best remembered as a play-by-play radio announcer for multiple sports, including baseball, football, basketball, and wrestling. He entered the Cowboys’ radio booth as a color commentator in 1965 and moved into the play-by-play role in 1966, per the Dallas Cowboys. He held the position for six years, during which time he called the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers in 1967. He also became the Texas Rangers’ first play-by-play caller, and was the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling from 1982 to 1987, covering the rise and fall of the Von Erich wrestling family.

Paying tribute to him on X, current Cowboys play-by-play man Brad Sham called him “the Godfather of DFW sports broadcasting, a national treasure, mentor, teacher storyteller & friend.”

Mercer was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2002, the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

In addition to his broadcasting career, Mercer also taught sports broadcasting at UNT for 35 years and created and managed the university’s radio station.

His daughter said arrangements for Mercer’s memorial are still being planned, adding that it will be a private event.