LaVon Mercer (; born January 13, 1959) is an American-Israeli former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position. As a high school senior, he averaged 37.6 points, 30.1 rebounds, and 12 blocked shots per game, and was named a ''Parade'' All-American. Playing

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

, he became the school's all-time career-leader in blocks and field-goal percentage, set its single-season shooting percentage record, and had the best SEC Tournament career field goal percentage of any SEC player. Drafted by the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in the 3rd round of the

1980 NBA draft The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selectin ...

, he instead played 14 seasons in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

, where he was the MVP in 1981. He obtained Israeli citizenship, and also played for the

Israeli national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA World Ranking. Israel has qualifi ...

Early and personal life

Mercer was born on January 13, 1959, in

Metter, Georgia Metter is a city and the county seat of Candler County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,130 at the 2010 census. In 2020, its population was 4,004. History Metter was founded in 1889. In 1914, Metter was designated seat of the newl ...

, population 4,000. Shortly after he was born his mother left him, along with his father, leaving his grandmother to raise him. At age 16, after the death of his grandparents, he was homeless. When he competed Mercer was tall, and weighed . He now has three children; two daughters (Dionn and Gabriell) and a son (Alexander).

High school

Mercer attended Metter High School ('76). His teammates nicknamed him "Tree". He grabbed a state record 41 rebounds in a game in 1975. In 1975–76 he averaged 37.6 points, 30.1 rebounds, and 12 blocked shots per game. In his senior year he was named the Georgia High School Player of the Year, and a ''Parade'' All-American. He was named the No. 1 high school player in Georgia by ''

The Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

''. There was a degree of local racial prejudice at the time. He said: "Townfolk called Coach West.... They asked him why he was starting five blacks on the basketball team. He told 'em it was 'cause we were the best players. When we won our first 12 straight, the calls stopped and the gym – it filled up." Writing in ''The Atlantic Journal'', Tom Tucker observed: "He can leap so high he hits his head on the rim. He doesn't block shots, he pounds the rejected basketball into the cheering grandstands like a beach ball. He has the soft touch of a great shooter, and when he goes for a rebound, he roars like a lion scaring anyone near him." Over 300 colleges recruited Mercer. The high school retired his jersey in 2014, the first time it had retired a player's jersey number.

College

In college, Mercer played for the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

from 1976 to 80. In 1977–78 he averaged 8.4 rebounds per game for the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

. In 1978–79 he averaged 13.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game with a .643 field goal percentage, and was named All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

– 3rd Team. In 1979–80 he averaged 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game with a .611 field goal percentage, playing alongside

Dominique Wilkins Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born January 12, 1960) is a French-born American former professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Wilkins is a nine-time NBA All-Star, a seve ...

, and was All-SEC – 3rd Team. Mercer is Georgia's all-time career-leader in blocks (327; fourth-highest in the SEC behind

Jarvis Varnado Jarvis Lamar Varnado (born March 1, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Piratas de La Guaira of the Venezuelan Basketball League. Varnado is known as a defensive specialist and is especially adept at shot blocking where he's ...

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

, and Kyle Davis; a 2.8 blocks per game average) and field-goal percentage (.602), and holds its single-season shooting percentage record (64.2%, in 1979).''2018–19 SEC Basketball Men's Record Book''
espncdn.com/sec/basketball. He is also had the third-best season of any Georgia player in blocked shots (88, in both his freshman and sophomore years, in 1977 and 1978), and the best SEC Tournament career field goal percentage of any SEC player (75.8%). He was named the Bulldog's 2004 SEC Legend.

Professional career

Mercer was selected by the

in the 3rd round (60th overall) of the

. He went to the team's rookie camp and the team was interested in him, but he decided to instead play in Israel. In the 1980s and 1990s, Mercer played professional basketball in Israel for 14 years in the

for

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

(1981–1988) and

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

(1988–1995)."Lavon Mercer,"
basket.co.il. Mercer led his teams to 6 Israeli Championships (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995), and 5 Israeli State Cups (1984, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994). In 1980–81 he was the season MVP. In 1986–87 he had his highest-scoring season, at 23.4 points per game. While playing for Maccabi, the club reached the Euroleague finals in 1989, and the Euroleague semifinals in 1991. He was called the "Israeli Michael Jordan". Mercer became an

Israeli citizen Israel has two primary pieces of legislation governing the requirements for citizenship, the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew has the unrestricted right to immigrate to Israel and become an Israeli citizen. Individuals ...

, and served in the

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

for two years. Mercer also played for the

in the

1986 FIBA World Championship The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was hel ...

and 1987 Eurobasket Championship. In 1982, having formerly been

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, he

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

. He said that "I guess you could call me a Messianic Jew or a Christian Jew. When I was over there it was the closest I felt to God. I really defend the state of Israel...." In 2006 he was honored by the

Israeli Consulate This is a list of diplomatic missions of Israel, excluding honorary consulates. As of November 2021, there are 82 resident embassies, including a Taiwan office, and 22 consulate-generals and two representative missions in the 165 states that re ...

to the Southeast United States and made an official goodwill ambassador for the State of Israel. Commenting on his years in Israel, Mercer said "I was pretty in awe of the lifestyle... I really wasn't planning on leaving, but my family wanted to come back to the States." He returned to the United States in the mid-1990s, after 14 years in Israel.

Life after competing

After Mercer returned to the United States, in 1994 he completed his BA in Behavioral Sciences at

National Louis University National Louis University (NLU) is a private nonprofit university with its main campus in Chicago, Illinois. NLU enrolls undergraduate and graduate students in more than 60 programs across its four colleges. It has locations throughout the Chica ...

. Beginning in 2003, Mercer served as the women's varsity basketball coach and Associate Athletic Director at

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

in Georgia.''SPELMAN COLLEGE BULLETIN; 2010 –2012''
/ref> He then became a member of an insurance team, dealing in life and health insurance.

References

External links

Personal site
*
"Interview with Mr. Lavon Mercer"
Dr. Dionne Show, June 28, 2018 * LaVon Mercer (April 12, 2018)
"What Israel Means to Me: LaVon Mercer,"
''Atlanta Jewish Times''. * Charles Ellis Jr, Lavon Curtis Mercer (2019)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, LaVon 1959 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel American women's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Centers (basketball) Converts to Judaism from Baptist denominations Georgia Bulldogs basketball players Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C. players Israeli men's basketball players Israeli soldiers Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players National Louis University alumni People from Candler County, Georgia Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) San Antonio Spurs draft picks Spelman College faculty Jewish American basketball players Jewish Israeli sportspeople American homeless people Jewish American basketball coaches Jews from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century Israeli sportsmen