Eugene Leroy Mercer (October 30, 1888 – July 3, 1957) was a respected surgeon but was best known for his

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

career, while attending the University of Pennsylvania. In 1910, he led Penn to the eastern championship, and then served as the Quakers' captain for the next two seasons. During his time at Penn, Mercer helped the Quakers to a 23–10 football record and received All-American honors in

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

and

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

In 1908, Mercer cleared in the pole vault, setting a record which he then broke in 1909. He is credited with becoming the only high school athlete to clear that height with a now-outdated

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

pole. Mercer was named to the United States Olympic team for the

1912 Olympic Games Year 191 ( CXCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Apronianus and Bradua (or, less frequently, year 944 ''Ab urbe condit ...

, and placed fifth in the long jump and sixth in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

. He also competed in baseball, which was a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

at those Games.Roy Mercer
sports-reference.com Mercer then captained Penn's 1913 champion track team and received All-American honors for his long jump accomplishments, and he won the IC4A long jump titles in 1912 and 1913. He received his

Doctorate in Medicine A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in 1913 and launched a distinguished career as a physician and educator. He later worked at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

as the school's athletic director and as a physical education professor. He also coached the school's lacrosse team in 1918 and 1919. Mercer returned to Penn in 1930 to serve as the Director and Dean of the school's Physical Education Department. In 1955, he was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * 1888 births 1957 deaths American male decathletes American male long jumpers American football fullbacks Penn Quakers athletic directors Penn Quakers football players Swarthmore Garnet Tide athletic directors Swarthmore Garnet Tide football coaches Swarthmore Garnet Tide men's lacrosse coaches Olympic baseball players of the United States Olympic decathletes Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Baseball players from Pennsylvania {{1910s-collegefootball-coach-stub