Standing a couple feet in front of the pitcher’s mound, Dr. Mary Wilder put her training into action, lobbing the first pitch before a recent Mercer Bears baseball game at OrthoGeorgia Park.
“Step toward home, point toward the catcher and let it fly,” friend, law professor and former Little League coach Pat Longan had told her during their practice sessions.
Now, on April 25, he watched as the petite, 93-year-old professor emerita raised her arm and released the ball. It went low, falling a little short of the catcher’s mitt.
“I think she did great,” Longan said afterward. “To me, it looked like a fastball for a strike.”
Dr. Wilder was a bit more critical.
“It was a good throw, but it bounced. I didn’t want it to bounce,” she said as she walked off the field.
At Mercer, Dr. Wilder is a legend. Those who didn’t know her personally have heard tales of her high standards and unwavering advocacy for justice during her over 40 years at the University.
She first came to Mercer as a student and graduated with a major in psychology and a minor in English in 1954. That same year, she married Bobby Wilder, captain of the Mercer men’s basketball team and later head coach.
Dr. Wilder joined Mercer’s faculty 1957, first in the physical education department. She moved to the English department in 1961 following the completion of her master’s. She went on to earn her Ph.D. and serve as department chair before retiring in 1998.
At Mercer, Dr. Wilder was known for her hard work, energy, sense of humor, leadership and genuine concern for her students. She fought for equality for female student-athletes, having women in leadership positions and a remedy for staff salary inequities.
Students affectionately called her “Bloody Mary,” a nickname that referred to her liberal use of red ink when grading essays. Mercer baseball head coach Craig Gibson was among her pupils.
“I wasn’t a good student, but she was a good teacher,” he said.
That connection to Gibson sparked an idea in the mind of University Minister Dr. Craig McMahan. What if she threw the first pitch at the Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day baseball game?
“When I asked Mary, she looked at me like I was crazy. She said, ‘I’m 93!’” Dr. McMahan recalled. “Then she grinned and said, ‘Sure, I’ll do that. But you have to practice with me.’ And we did.”
