His calling

Sporting News, The, Dec 23, 1996 by Jim Dent

Trotter's son, Jeremiah Trotter, is a linebacker at Stephen F. Austin. At 6-4 and 245 pounds, he was a candidate for first team AD-America at the Division I-AA level in 1996. He has been hearing pep talks from Merrill since childhood.

"I want to be just like Mr. Merrill," Jeremiah says.

Around Christmas, help comes from as far away as Dallas, 160 miles to the southwest. Dallasites began flooding Hooks with donations, turkeys and toys several years ago, thanks to the efforts of KLIF talk show host Norm Hitzges. Merrill has been a regular on Hitzges' popular show around Christmas for more than 10 years.

In the past year, a man from Dallas contributed a computer. A doctor who asks to remain anonymous sends a monthly check close to $1,000. Merle Harmon, a former broadcaster whose name once was affiliated with a chain of sports apparel stores, drove from the Dallas area with a trailer. "He had so much stuff in that trailer that the tires almost went fiat," Merrill says. Hundreds of others have sent money.

Donations come from many directions. White Sox outfielder Tony Phillips, who gets along with umpires about as well as Billy Martin did, sends a $3,000 check each year. One year, Merrill wasn't so sure he was going to get a check from Phillips.

"I called him out on strikes three times one night," Merrill says. "The next night, I was over at third base when he came running by. And he was yelling, `What are we doing for those kids this year? When do I need to send the check?'"

Gary Allegre, who organizes a Notre Dame booster club, sent a check from his organization last year after hearing of Merrill's effort on a nationally syndicated radio network. Merrill has a book full of names of people who have done similar deeds for the HSC.

One reason Merrill eats at Jimmy D.'s every day is because Jimmy D. Norris is an umwavering contributor to the Christmas effort.

"He feeds all of the volunteers, and we're not talking about a little food here, and a little food there," Merrill says. "We're talking about tall boxes loaded with plates of food. Nobody goes hungry when they're helping us."

Norris, who serves the Durwood Merrill All-World Omelette every morning at his restaurant, is asked what the town of Hooks would do without Merrill. "First, I would go out of business," he says. "The charity would go down the tubes. And I would have nobody to talk to."

But there is a frustrating side. A representative from the United Way called one year and asked if they could lend assistance. "This guy wanted to know how big my office was," Merrill remembers. "I told him it was the back of my pickup. He never called back."

The Christmas project begins the day after Thanksgiving. It is consummated on Christmas Eve. There have been years when Merrill didn't finish his rounds until Christmas night. As Carolyn, his wife of 38 years, says, "I would have to drag him home and remind him that he had two kids who needed him, too."

The task can be daunting and exhausting. While working at the army depot one year, Carolyn received a call one afternoon during the Christmas season, from Durwood. "He was so tired that he had completely lost it," she says. "He wanted me to come home right then because he couldn't find his car keys. There was no way I could get away from work, but I did it anyway. When I got home he was sitting on the couch. The car keys were on the coffee table right in front of him."