LaVon Mercer

LaVon Mercer (; born January 13, 1959) is an American-Israeli former basketball player. He played at the center 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 for the Georgia Bulldogs, 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 in the 3rd round of the 1980 NBA draft, he instead played 14 seasons in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, where he was the MVP in 1981. He obtained Israeli citizenship, and also played for the Israeli national basketball team.

Early and personal life

Mercer was born on January 13, 1959, in Metter, Georgia, 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). His teammates nicknamed him "Tree". 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.

Mercer is Georgia's all-time career-leader in blocks (327; fourth-highest in the SEC behind Jarvis Varnado, Shaquille O'Neal, 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). 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%).

Professional career Mercer was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 3rd round (60th overall) of the 1980 NBA draft. He went to the team's rookie camp and the team was interested in him, but he decided to instead play in Israel. Mercer led his teams to 6 Israeli Championships (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995), and 5 Israeli State Cups (1984, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994).

Mercer became an Israeli citizen, and served in the Israel Defense Forces for two years. 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...."

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."

Beginning in 2003, Mercer served as the women's varsity basketball coach and Associate Athletic Director at Spelman College in Georgia. He then became a member of an insurance team, dealing in life and health insurance.