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Female ex-Duke kicker gives tearful testimony

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2000

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Heather Sue Mercer smiled broadly as she recalled kicking a winning field goal, then wiped away tears as she told a federal jury of her humiliation when she learned she was going to be cut from Duke's team.

Mercer, 24, walked on as a kicker her freshman year in 1994. She was cut by coach Fred Goldsmith in 1996.

Mercer, who graduated in 1998, sued the school three years ago, claiming it violated the Title IX amendment that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs receiving federal funds.

She will return to the stand today to finish her testimony and face cross-examination.

Mercer began her testimony by describing her career at Duke, which peaked in spring 1995 when she kicked the winning 28-yard field goal as time ran out in the annual Blue-White scrimmage.

Fellow players slapped her on the helmet and hoisted her on their shoulders, Mercer said. "I was real happy."

The next Monday, Mercer said, she read in the college newspaper that Goldsmith said she was on the team. Later at a team meeting, Goldsmith told the other players, "Welcome your new player," she said.

"I felt I was finally becoming accepted by the group," she said. "I was becoming a part of the team."

But the situation changed abruptly when she was told she would not be invited to the team's summer camp. Goldsmith told her the team's injured starting kicker was returning and a couple of highly recruited kickers also were coming and she wasn't needed, Mercer said.

Goldsmith called her at home in New York later in the summer. He asked her, "Why do you insist on playing football? Why not try something like beauty pageants?" Mercer said, beginning to cry.

Echoing testimony given by her mother, Diana, Mercer said Goldsmith told her, "You know, the biggest mistake I ever made in my life was saying that you were on the team."

Duke's attorneys contend that Mercer's lack of leg strength was a key factor in the decision to cut her from the squad.

HELPING TALIAFERRO: Ohio State hopes to contribute around $20,000 to the long-term care of Penn State's Adam Taliaferro.

The school will donate $1 for each program sold at Ohio State's home game Oct. 14 against Minnesota. About 22,000 programs are printed for each home game.

Taliaferro bruised his spinal cord in the fourth quarter of the Penn State-Ohio State game Sept. 23 in Columbus. He had decompression spinal fusion surgery Sept. 25.

CLEMSON: NCAA investigators were at Gaffney High in Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday to look into an anonymous complaint that two recruits received special benefits from a Clemson booster, principal Bill James said.

James said he met with the investigators, along with defensive end Jeff Littlejohn, Littlejohn's parents and Gaffney coach Joe Montgomery. The principal refused to say what was discussed. Linebacker Roger McIntosh also was to be questioned, but James said he was not in school Tuesday.

Both players have orally committed to Clemson, but those commitments are not binding.

Becky Bowman, Clemson's associate athletics director for NCAA compliance, said the school is not under investigation by the NCAA.

TENNESSEE: Center Fred Weary could miss the rest of the season if tests show his right ankle is not healing properly. Doctors will re-examine the ankle today. If they find more damage, they will operate immediately, coach Phillip Fulmer said after practice.

Weary injured the ankle against Florida on Sept. 16 and has missed two games.

BYU: Quarterback Bret Engemann will miss the rest of the season after surgery for a dislocated right shoulder.

MICHIGAN STATE: After missing three games with a bruised thumb, quarterback Ryan Van Dyke will start Saturday at Iowa.

CHATTANOOGA: The one-game suspension of wide receiver Cos DeMatteo, who spit on a Georgia Southern player, was upheld by the Southern Conference.

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