Greg Mercier '71 was an All-Conference performer in both football and baseball at Ripon College, serving as team captain for both sports during his senior year. The school's all-time leader in career interceptions at the time of his graduation, Mercier picked off 25 passes as a defensive back during his three-year varsity career. He was inducted into Ripon's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
"My experience playing sports at Ripon had a tremendous impact on my life," Mercier said. "Besides simply having a ton of great memories from playing on teams with so many wonderful guys who also happened to be terrific athletes, I learned, in spades, the values of commitment, hard work, the need to work together to accomplish the task at hand, and some key elements of leadership."
A three-year starter for the Redmen football team, Mercier intercepted five passes during his first varsity season in 1968, which helped Ripon win the Midwest Conference Championship that season. He followed that up by recording 12 interceptions as a junior, which stood as a single season school record for 31 years, while still ranking second in both school and conference history, en route to First Team All-Conference honors. He closed out his career with eight interceptions in nine games as a senior, which ranked second in school history at the time and is still tied for sixth, as he landed on the All-Conference team for the second consecutive season. Mercier's 25 career interceptions still ranks second in school history, just one shy of the school record.
"I had the good fortune of graduating from Ripon College, and I'm thankful to Head Coach John Storzer for helping me achieve that honor and more," said Mercier.
Mercier is one of six players in program history to record three interceptions in a game, accomplishing that feat three times, more than any other player, and one of just two players to do that more than once. He recorded three INTs, which still stands as a single game school record, twice in the 1969 season alone.
After one of those three-INT games in which Mercier helped the Redmen hold Carleton to just 69 passing yards in the contest, Storzer exclaimed to
The Ripon Commonwealth, "He was great, wasn't he?!"
A native of Deerfield, Ill., Mercier wasn't only great on the gridiron, but also on the baseball diamond, where he earned All-Conference honors as an outfielder during his senior season. That year, Mercier recorded a team-best batting average of .440, while leading Ripon in nearly every offensive category.
After graduating
cum laude from Ripon College, Mercier attended law school at the University of Denver, where he was a member of the Law Review. After practicing law in Greeley, Colo. for a year and a half, Mercier joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), launching a 31-year career as an agent and supervisor in the FBI, followed by nearly 12 years working for the FBI as a contractor, conducting asset forfeiture investigations.
"I can say for certain that my time and experience in the FBI was greatly enhanced and improved by the values I learned on the practice and game fields of Ripon College," Mercier said. "Being in the FBI and being a part of an FBI squad is just like being on a sports team - only real life!"
Mercier and his wife Pam, who also attended Ripon College, currently reside in Newbury Park, Calif. The couple has three daughters and 15 grandchildren.
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