Joseph 'Joe' Mercer, OBE (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English football player and manager.
Mercer was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the son of a former Nottingham Forest and Tranmere Rovers footballer, also named Joe.Joe Mercer senior died, following health problems resulting from a gas attack during the Great War, while his son was only 12.
Joe Mercer, a left-half, first played for Ellesmere Port Town. He was a powerful tackler and good at anticipating an opponent's moves. He joined Everton in September 1932 at the age of 18 and claimed a regular first team place in the 1935–36 season. Mercer made 186 appearances for Everton, scoring two goals and a winning a League Championship medal in the 1938–39 season. While playing for Everton he gained five England caps between 1938 and 1939.
Like many players of his generation, Mercer lost out on seven seasons of football due to the Second World War. He became a sergeant-major and played in 26 wartime internationals, many of them as captain. The Everton manager Theo Kelly accused Mercer of not trying in an international against Scotland, but in reality Mercer had sustained a severe cartilage injury. Even after consulting an orthopaedic specialist, the Everton management refused to believe him and Mercer had to pay for the surgery himself. During the war Mercer guested for Chester City, making his debut in a 4–1 win over Halifax Town in September 1942.
Joseph Powell "Joe" Mercer (21 July 1889–1927) was an English professional football centre half who played in the Football League for Nottingham Forest and Tranmere Rovers. He was the father of footballer and manager Joe Mercer.
Mercer worked as a bricklayer before and during his professional football career. He married Ethel Breeze in June 1913 and had four children, the oldest being future footballer and manager Joe Mercer. On 16 December 1914, four months into the First World War, Mercer enlisted the 17th (Service) Battalion of the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) and was posted to the front on 17 October 1915. At the front, he was promoted to sergeant, sustained wounds in the head, leg and shoulder and was captured by the Germans in Oppy on 28 April 1917. He was held in camps at Douai, Bad Langensalza, Giessen and Meschede and returned home in January 1919. Mercer died in 1927 of health problems caused by gas inhalation in the trenches a decade earlier.
Joseph "Joe" Mercer, OBE (born 25 October 1934) is a retired English thoroughbred race horse jockey. He was active as a jockey from 1947 to 1985 and rode a total of 2,810 winners in Britain, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards, Lester Piggott, and Doug Smith at the time of his retirement, and subsequently only bettered by Pat Eddery (his niece's ex-husband) and Willie Carson.
He was apprenticed to trainer Frederick Sneyd and won his first British Classic race while still an apprentice on Ambiguity in the 1953 Epsom Oaks. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice twice, in 1952 and 1953.
He subsequently worked as stable jockey for Jack Colling, Dick Hern, Henry Cecil and Peter Walwyn. During his spell at Cecil's yard he won his only British flat racing Champion Jockey's title in 1979. The most successful horse Mercer rode during his career was Brigadier Gerard, winner of 17 of his 18 races between 1970 and 1972. He retired in November 1985 and was successful in his final ride as a jockey, winning the 1985 November Handicap on Bold Rex.