MOULTRIE – No less a football authority than longtime Packers football coach Tom White called Ray Mercer “the most outstanding back who’s ever come through South Georgia. He could kick field goals, punt, kick off, catch and block.

“And when it came to running the football, there wasn’t any better.”

Mercer, who was inducted in the first class of the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, died December 4, 2020, at Baptist Village in Waycross.

Mercer was born in Colquitt County on February 17, 1934, and began playing football in Moultrie in the program operated by Dr. R.C. Gresham. He first carried the football for the Moultrie Packers as a freshman in 1948.

By the time he was a senior in 1951, Ramblin’ Ray was clearly one of the best high school backs in the nation.

Although accurate records were not kept before 1951, it is believed he rushed for more than 2,100 yards and 40 touchdowns in his final two seasons, leading the Packers to a combined 16-4-1 record.

As a junior, he rushed for 224 yards in the season-opening 46-0 victory over Jordan and ran for 260 in a 25-0 shutout of Columbus.

In 1951, while leading coach Knuck McCrary’s first Moultrie High team to an 8-1-1 record, he scored 21 touchdowns. He scored 149 points, which is still the sixth-most scored in a season by a Packer. He led Region 1-AA in both rushing and scoring.

Also that year, he became the first Packer to go over 1,000 yards rushing, finishing with 1,003.

He ran for a career-high 260 yards, including a 95-yard run, in the 48-0 victory over Fitzgerald. He also returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown to help give the Packers a 19-6 win over Valdosta, the school’s first over the Wildcats in 15 years.

In the final game of the 1951 season, Mercer scored two touchdowns and rushed for 92 yards in a 20-6 victory over No. 1-ranked Albany High at Moultrie’s Municipal Stadium.

Following his outstanding senior season, he was named All-Region, All-State and All-Southern and was named to Scholastic Magazine’s All-America team.

Mercer received a scholarship to play football at Auburn, but an injury during his freshman year ended his career.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1954-1958 and began his long career in radio broadcasting in Moultrie with WMTM.

He later owned and operated radio station WMES in Ashburn.

Son of the late Leo Fletcher and Estelle Hammock Mercer, Mercer is survived by two sons, Ray L. Mercer Jr. and wife Doris of Daisy and Mark B. Mercer and wife Jan of Douglas; nine grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Ashburn.