Gary Mercer

Off the Court

Bowling Green alumni, as Gary Mercer tells it on the shows. Each story was checked against its source.

• Eva Marie SaintOscar-winning actress

  Eva Marie Saint graduated from Bowling Green in 1946, won an Oscar for On the Waterfront, and is the oldest living Academy Award winner. There's a theater on campus named after her. I'd say she's earned it.

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• Elizabeth M. BoyerFounded Women's Equity Action League

  Elizabeth Boyer took an education degree here in 1937, became a lawyer, and in 1968 founded the Women's Equity Action League for professional women. A teacher's degree and a taste for a fair fight. Good combination.

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• Jennifer HigdonPulitzer-winning composer

  Jennifer Higdon writes classical music, and she has a Grammy and a Pulitzer Prize to show for it. Folks, that is a Falcon with better hardware than most trophy cases.

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• Stanley KutlerHistorian, Watergate tapes lawsuit

  Stanley Kutler was a historian who sued for the release of tapes relating to Watergate. Some people read history. This fella went to court to pry it loose.

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• George SweigertPatented the cordless telephone

  George Sweigert, an Army radio operator turned inventor, is credited as the first to patent the cordless telephone. So every time you lose the phone in the couch cushions, you can thank a Bowling Green man.

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