Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MERCER, Kenneth E.: Difference between revisions
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Mercer was himself an outstanding athlete who earned sixteen letters in five sports at Simpson College. He acquired his nickname "Moco" from his basketball coach who compared Mercer's combative nature to "Moco, the Battling Eskimo," a cartoon character in the ''Des Moines Register''. He once won $1000 by kicking a football from the 50-yard line and hitting a clock set behind the end zone. Mercer played professional football with the Frankfort Yellow Jackets, now the Philadelphia Eagles, and later the New York Giants. In 1928 he was chosen captain of the all-pro team and was again a member in 1929. Photo Courtesy: Melinda Blok) | Mercer was himself an outstanding athlete who earned sixteen letters in five sports at Simpson College. He acquired his nickname "Moco" from his basketball coach who compared Mercer's combative nature to "Moco, the Battling Eskimo," a cartoon character in the ''Des Moines Register''. He once won $1000 by kicking a football from the 50-yard line and hitting a clock set behind the end zone. Mercer played professional football with the Frankfort Yellow Jackets, now the Philadelphia Eagles, and later the New York Giants. In 1928 he was chosen captain of the all-pro team and was again a member in 1929. Photo Courtesy: Melinda Blok) | ||
[[Category: Athletics-Baseball]] | |||
Revision as of 03:22, 22 November 2008
MERCER, Kenneth E. (Albia, IA--Dubuque, IA, 1970). Coach. In 1960 Mercer, acclaimed coach at the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE, was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Football Hall of Fame. In 1964 he was inducted into the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame. Mercer was a charter member of the University of Dubuque Athletic Hall of Fame.
Between 1939 and 1959 Mercer, who coached every sport, never had a year without a conference championship in some sport. By the age of fifty-nine, with only 36 years of coaching experience, Mercer had accumulated an unprecedented 100 seasons of coaching. This included 31 years as a football coach, 27 years coaching track, 23 years in basketball, 14 years in wrestling, 4 in tennis, and 1 in cross country. His football and basketball teams had a combined record of 282-90-6 during his career.
Spartans football team compiled a record of 99 wins, fifty-four loses and six ties including seventeen straight homecoming victories. Basketball teams under Mercer's guidance won 119 games with 37 losses and enjoyed a winning streak of 29 straight games. Mercer's track teams through 1962 lost only five regular season dual meets in fourteen years. Five of the six sports he coached saw undefeated seasons. Mercer's cross-country team, although defeated during its 1962 season, went on to win the Iowa Conference the same year.
Mercer was himself an outstanding athlete who earned sixteen letters in five sports at Simpson College. He acquired his nickname "Moco" from his basketball coach who compared Mercer's combative nature to "Moco, the Battling Eskimo," a cartoon character in the Des Moines Register. He once won $1000 by kicking a football from the 50-yard line and hitting a clock set behind the end zone. Mercer played professional football with the Frankfort Yellow Jackets, now the Philadelphia Eagles, and later the New York Giants. In 1928 he was chosen captain of the all-pro team and was again a member in 1929. Photo Courtesy: Melinda Blok)