Bill Mercer, a longtime Dallas announcer and broadcast journalist in Dallas, passed away.
The news was shared by Dallas Cowboys radio announcer Brad Sham.
“Saddened to hear of the end of the journey at 99 for the fabulous Bill Mercer,” Sham said on X. “Truly the Godfather of DFW sports broadcasting, a national treasure, mentor, teacher, story teller & friend. Race well run old friend. May his memory be for a blessing.”
Saddened to hear of the end of the journey at 99 for the fabulous Bill Mercer. Truly the Godfather of DFW sports broadcasting, a national treasure, mentor, teacher, story teller & friend. Race well run old friend. May his memory be for a blessing 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/tZsEnjH2Wr
— Brad Sham (@Boys_Vox) March 23, 2025
Mercer broadcast many sports over the years. That included calling games for Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox, along with several different Minor League teams. He also called both football and basketball for what is now known as the University of North Texas. Additionally, Mercer called professional football. He served as the primary announcer for the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) in the early days of the American Football League. Later, Mercer called games for the Dallas Cowboys, including 1967’s famed Ice Bowl against the Green Bay Packers.
From 1982-1987, a span that covered the promotion’s most successful years, Mercer was an announcer for the Metroplex based World Class Championship Wrestling, or WCCW.
Mercer’s reporting was not just limited to sports.
In 1963, hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Mercer, then working with KRLD in Dallas, was one of the reporters partaking in a press conference with Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy’s accused assassin. During the press conference, it was Mercer who informed Oswald that he had been formally charged with President Kennedy’s assassination. That moment was captured on camera.
Bill Mercer broke the news to Lee Harvey Oswald on camera that he’d been charged with murdering the president, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. pic.twitter.com/4OVfNTUjvF
— Allan (@allan_cheapshot) March 23, 2025
Mercer was 99.
