List of Mercer University people

Mercer University is a private, coeducational university in Macon, Georgia, founded in 1833.

Mercer is the only university of its size in the United States that offers programs in eleven diverse fields of study: liberal arts, business, education, music, engineering, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, law, theology, and continuing and professional studies. Mercer enrolls approximately 8,300 students in its eleven colleges and schools.

Alumni

This is a list of notable Mercer alumni and employees.

Arts, education, media, and industry

• Tom Abbott – broadcaster with Golf Channel and NBC Sports
• Gregg Allman – musician, received an honorary degree in 2016
• Steve Berry – author of six novels, including several New York Times bestsellers
• David Bottoms – Georgia Poet Laureate, 2000–2012
• James C. Coomer – political scientist and author
• Harry Stillwell Edwards – former editor, Macon Telegraph; author of 19 books, including the Southern classic Eneas Africanus
• Erick Erickson – political contributor for John King, USA on CNN
• Nancy Grace – legal commentator and guest host for Larry King Live; hosted her own show, Nancy Grace on CNN
• Keitaro Harada – opera and orchestra conductor
• Rufus Carrollton Harris – president, Tulane University, 1939–1960; president, Mercer University, 1960–1979, co-author of the GI Bill
• Malcolm Johnson – Pulitzer Prize-winning author (1949); his reports were the basis for On the Waterfront
• Anne B. Kerr – president, Florida Southern College
• William Heard Kilpatrick – career educator; first president of the Bennington College board of trustees, 1931–1938
• Bruce D. McDonald III – university professor, North Carolina State University
• Reg Murphy – former president and vice chairman, National Geographic Society; publisher, Baltimore Sun; editor and publisher, San Francisco Examiner; editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; author of Uncommon Sense: The Achievement of Griffin Bell
• William F. Ogburn – sociologist; former president of the American Sociological Society
• George P. Oslin – former Western Union executive; invented the singing telegram in 1933
• Lyman Ray Patterson – law professor and copyright scholar; former dean, Emory University School of Law
• James Rachels – moral philosopher, university professor, and author; best known for his writing on euthanasia
• Adam Ragusea – popular food YouTuber and former journalism professor at Mercer University
• Ed Roberts – designed the first commercially successful personal computer in 1975; known as "the father of the personal computer"
• Ferrol Sams – widely read Southern author, known for Run with the Horsemen and Whisper of the River
• Corbett H. Thigpen – psychiatrist; co-author of The Three Faces of Eve
• Ellis Paul Torrance – educator known for pioneering research in creativity; namesake of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development
• Phil Walden – music pioneer and founder of Capricorn Records; represented Otis Redding and The Allman Brothers

Law

For further alumni, see also: Walter F. George School of Law.

• Griffin Bell – judge, United States Court of Appeals, 1962–1976; 72nd Attorney General of the United States, 1977–1979
• William Augustus Bootle – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, 1954–2005; ordered the first admission of an African-American to the University of Georgia in 1961
• G. Harrold Carswell – judge, Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida, 1958–1969; judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1969–1970; unsuccessful nominee to the United States Supreme Court, 1970
• Barry Cohen – criminal defense attorney, 1966–2018
• Linton McGee Collins – judge, United States Court of Claims, 1964–1972
• Brainerd Currie – law professor; noted conflict of laws scholar who developed the characterisation concept of governmental interest analysis
• Thomas Hoyt Davis – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, 1945–1969
• Beverly Daniel Evans, Jr. – Georgia Supreme Court justice, 1904–1917; federal district judge for the Southern District of Georgia, 1917–1922
• Albert John Henderson – judge, United States Court of Appeals, 1979–1999; judge, Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, 1968–1979
• Archibald Battle Lovett – judge, Federal District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, 1941–1945
• Scott D. Makar – Florida Solicitor General
• Carlton Mobley – chief justice, Georgia Supreme Court, 1972–1974; associate justice, 1954–1972; United States representative, Georgia's 6th Congressional district, 1932–1933
• Willie Louis Sands – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia; the first African-American to serve on the court
• Jay Sekulow – chief counsel, American Center for Law and Justice
• Marc T. Treadwell – judge, Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
• L. Lin Wood – attorney and conspiracy theorist on President Donald Trump's legal team tasked with overturning the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election

Politics

U.S. senators

• Four Mercerians have served as United States senators, all from Georgia.
• Walter F. George – United States senator from Georgia, 1922–1957, served as president pro tempore, 1955–1957; namesake of Mercer's Law School
• Thomas W. Hardwick – United States senator from Georgia, 1915–1919; governor of Georgia, 1921–1923; as governor, appointed Rebecca L. Felton as the first female United States senator
• Thomas E. Watson – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1891–1893; United States senator from Georgia, 1921–1922
• William S. West – United States senator from Georgia, 1914–1914

Governors

• Eleven Mercerians have served as governors: six of Georgia, two of Alabama, and one each of New Hampshire, Puerto Rico, and Texas.
• Ellis Arnall – governor of Georgia, 1943–1947
• Allen D. Candler – governor of Georgia, 1898–1902; United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1883–1891; namesake of Candler County, Georgia
• Nathan Deal – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1993–2010; served as governor of Georgia 2011–2019
• Thomas W. Hardwick – United States senator from Georgia, 1915–1919; governor of Georgia, 1921–1923; as Governor, appointed Rebecca L. Felton as the first female United States senator
• Richard B. Hubbard – governor of Texas, 1876–1879; US ambassador to Japan, 1885–1889
• William D. Jelks – governor of Alabama, 1901–1907
• Henry Dickerson McDaniel – governor of Georgia, 1883–1886
• William J. Northen – governor of Georgia, 1890–1894; president, Southern Baptist Convention, 1899–1901; served as a Mercer trustee for 44 years, 1869–1913
• Chauncey Sparks – governor of Alabama, 1943–1947
• Meldrim Thomson, Jr. – governor of New Hampshire, 1973–1979
• Blanton Winship – governor of Puerto Rico (1934–1939)

U.S. representatives

• Twenty-one Mercerians have served as United States representatives; the most recent (as of 2021) was Scott Rigell of Virginia. Seventeen were from Georgia, three from Florida, and one from Virginia.
• Doug Barnard – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1977–1993
• Allen D. Candler – governor of Georgia, 1898–1902; United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1883–1891; namesake of Candler County, Georgia
• Edward E. Cox – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1925–1952
• Martin J. Crawford – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1855–1861; representative to the Confederate Provisional Congress, 1861–1862; justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, 1880–1883
• Nathan Deal – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1993–2010; served as governor of Georgia 2011–2019
• Robert W. Everett – United States representative, Georgia's 7th Congressional district, 1891–1893
• Phillip M. Landrum – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1953–1977
• Thomas G. Lawson – United States representative, Georgia's 8th Congressional district, 1891–1897
• Rufus E. Lester – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1889–1906
• Charles L. Moses – United States representative, Georgia's 4th Congressional district, 1891–1897
• James W. Overstreet – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1906–1907 and 1917–1923
• Homer C. Parker – United States representative, Georgia's 1st Congressional district, 1931–1935
• Scott Rigell – United States representative, Virginia's 2nd Congressional district, 2011–2017
• Seaborn Roddenbery – United States representative, Georgia's 2nd Congressional district, 1910–1913
• Dwight L. Rogers – United States representative, Florida's 6th Congressional district, 1945–1954
• William J. Sears – United States representative, Florida's 4th Congressional district, 1915–1929; United States representative, an at-large Florida district, 1933–1937
• Malcolm C. Tarver – United States representative, Georgia's 7th Congressional district, 1927–1947
• Carl Vinson – United States representative for over 50 years, 1914–1965; long-time chairman, House Armed Services Committee; has been called the "patriarch of the armed services" and the "father of the two-ocean navy"; namesake of the
• Thomas E. Watson – United States representative, Georgia's 10th Congressional district, 1891–1893; United States senator from Georgia, 1921–1922
• J. Mark Wilcox – United States representative, Florida's 4th Congressional district, 1933–1939
• John S. Wood – United States representative, Georgia's 9th Congressional district, 1931–1935 and 1945–1953; chairman, House Un-American Activities Committee, 1949–1953

Other

• Brad Bryant – superintendent of the Georgia public schools, one of Georgia's eight statewide executive officials, 2010–2011
• Cathy Cox – Georgia secretary of state, 1999–2007; first woman elected to this position
• Luis Eduardo Díaz Granados – Colombian representative
• Walter C. Dowling – United States ambassador to South Korea, 1956–1959; United States ambassador to Germany, 1959–1963
• Winfred Dukes – Georgia state representative
• Bobby Harshbarger – Tennessee state senator (2025-present)
• John Oxendine – Georgia insurance commissioner, 1995–2011
• John Peyton – mayor, Jacksonville, Florida, the most populous city in Florida and the thirteenth most populous in the United States, 2003–2011
• William Usery Jr. – United States Secretary of Labor, 1976–1977
• Julian Webb – member of the Georgia State Senate 1963–1974 and the Georgia Court of Appeals 1974–1979
• Samuel J. Welsch – member of the Georgia House of Representatives, the Georgia State Senate, and mayor of Marietta, Georgia.

Military

• John Birch – missionary, U.S. Army intelligence officer, and OSS agent in China during World War II; namesake of the John Birch Society
• Benjamin S. Griffin, general, U.S. Army – commanding general, U.S. Army Materiel Command, 2004–08
• Richard E. Hawes, rear admiral, U.S. Navy – commanded several vessels during World War II; recipient of the Navy Cross; namesake of the USS Hawes
• Alexander T. Hawthorn, brigadier general, C.S. Army – commander, 4th Arkansas Infantry Brigade, 1863–65
• Claude M. Kicklighter, lieutenant general, U.S. Army – commanding general, United States Army, Pacific, 1989–91; after military retirement, served in senior civilian positions in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs; assistant secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs, 2001–05; inspector general, Department of Defense, 2007–08
• George J. Walker, brigadier general, U.S. Army – assistant chief of staff for Intelligence, U.S. Army Forces Command, 1987–89; member, Military Intelligence Hall of Fame
• Perry L. Wiggins, lieutenant general, U.S. Army – commanding general, Fifth United States Army, 2013–present; commander, 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley, 2008–09
• Blanton Winship, major general, U.S. Army – Judge Advocate General (TJAG), 1931–33; governor of Puerto Rico, 1934–39

Science

• Kevin Greenaugh – nuclear engineer, first African-American to earn a PhD in nuclear engineering from the University of Maryland College Park
• Godwin Maduka – MD and founder of Las Vegas Pain Institute and Medical Center

Other public service

• Ed Bacon – rector emeritus of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California
• Betty Cantrell – Miss America 2016
• Louie D. Newton – influential Baptist minister; president, Southern Baptist Convention, 1947–1948; president, Georgia Baptist Convention, 1950–1951; pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church in Atlanta for more than 40 years; namesake of Mercer's Newton Hall, a large chapel on the Macon campus
• Steadman V. Sanford – former chancellor, University System of Georgia; namesake of Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia

Athletics

• Aldo Balsano – former goalkeeper for Mercer University's men's soccer team; member of U.S. Beach Soccer National Team (2013–2016); nominated to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2025
• Rob Belloir – former Major League Baseball infielder for the Atlanta Braves
• William Brennan – former Major League Baseball pitcher
• Cindy Brogdon – former basketball player who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Billy Burns – Major League Baseball outfielder in the New York Yankees organization
• Wally Butts – head football coach, University of Georgia (1939–1960), athletic director (1939–1963); member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame
• Jimmy Carnes – head track & field coach, Furman University (1962–1964), University of Florida (1965–1976), U.S. Olympic team (1980); founding president of USA Track & Field (1980–1984)
• Andrea Congreaves – women's basketball player in the WNBA and in Europe
• Wesley Duke – former tight end for the Denver Broncos, 2005 AFC West Champions
• Cory Gearrin – Major League Baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees
• Hilda M. Hankerson – high school basketball coach
• Big James Henderson – powerlifter who competed in the International Powerlifting Federation and won five world bench press titles (1994–1998)
• Kyle Lewis – Major League Baseball outfielder for the Seattle Mariners
• Mike Mimbs – former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies
• Sam Mitchell – head coach, Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (2004–2008); 2007 NBA Coach of the Year
• Joe Pettini – former Major League Baseball infielder and coach
• Bill Yoast – high school football coach made famous in the film Remember the Titans

References