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A World Class Man: Remembering Bill Mercer

Posted: Aug 1st 2026 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.com

The great Bill Mercer passed away after living 99 years on this earth. To pro wrestling fans, he will always be remembered as the voice of World Class Championship Wrestling. A title he held from World Class’ peak years from 1982 until 1987. His voice and the way he called matches and conducted interviews helped give the feeling that WCCW was a big league promotion. As big as the Von Erich family were in Texas, Mercer was just as big…if not bigger.

Mercer, a Navy veteran of World War II, studied broadcast journalism at North Texas State University after the war ended. He would go on to call many memorable and historical events in his 60 plus years as a broadcaster. As a newsman, Mercer locally covered the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mercer was the newsman who famously broke the news to Lee Harvey Oswald that he was going to be charged with the murder of President Kennedy. Mercer would co-write a book on those experiences covering such a tragic event.

Bill Mercer covered all types of sports on both radio and television. He called games for the Dallas Texans of the American Football League and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL. He called the famous “Ice Bowl” game between the Cowboys and Green Bay Packers. He was the announcer for the inaugural baseball season of the Texas Rangers in 1972. He also called games for the Chicago White Sox. Mercer called baseball, football and basketball games for his alma mater North Texas State, including announcer at North Texas when Abner Haynes and Leon King became the first African American athletes to play college football in Texas in 1966. He also served as a teacher of broadcast journalism to over 700 students throughout the years. Many of the well known broadcasters in Texas sports were taught by Mercer and are affectionately known as ‘Mercer’s Mafia.’

Mercer began calling Big Time Wrestling matches on the radio in the 1950’s and eventually in front of the camera as the voice track of World Class. While World Class wrestling reached the Middle East, Mercer was voted the fourth most well known TV personalities in Israel, right behind the Von Erichs. Mercer’s experience in TV helped WCCW become revolutionary in the production of World Class’ TV presentation. He along with producer Mickey Grant introduced pro wrestling viewers to slow motion replays, better audio with microphones in the ring, hand held cameras surrounding the ring etc.

Fritz Von Erich once invited Mercer to start sitting in on booking meeting, to which Mercer declined. His reasoning, he wanted to call the action and treat it like a real sport with real reactions. He did not want to know the outcomes beforehand. Mercer liked and respected the Von Erich family, but didn’t agree with how Fritz handled many of his kids’ careers in the squared circle. There were times Mercer and Fritz argued over television presentation, calling of matches and money. Mercer eventually left World Class and joined rival Ken Mantell’s Wild West Wrestling. While Mercer’s career as a wrestling broadcaster was legendary, his overall career far surpasses that.

One of Mercer’s final public appearances was at the premier for the Von Erich movie, ‘The Iron Claw.’ Bill Mercer was inducted into both the Texas Radio Hall of Fame as well as the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the University of North Texas’ Hall of Fame. A true great gone…but what a life and career he lived.