 "Photo: File Photo")
 "Photo: File Photo")
Thousands of students have walked through the halls of Del Mar College in the past 75 years, but few have made a claim to fame like Billy Joe, better known as “Red” McCombs.
The DMC alumni has made Forbes Magazine’s “Top 400 Richest Americans” list, owned South Texas basketball franchise the San Antonio Spurs and established an automotive sales franchise.
In 1947, McCombs came to DMC on athletic scholarship to play Viking football. At the time, DMC football was a part of the Junior South Texas Conference Division.
“I wanted to play football and it was a good place to get in the (football) scene,” McCombs said. “Everything at Del Mar was really exciting for me.”
In addition to leading his team to win the Junior Sugar Bowl and the Gulf Bowl, McCombs met his wife, Charline, with whom he will be celebrating his 59 years of marriage.
From DMC, McCombs went on to the University of Texas and then returned to Corpus Christi where he began his career as a professional sports-team owner, purchasing the Corpus Christi Clippers, a Class B baseball team for $10,000.
“I really was not that anxious to do that,” McCombs said. “A friend in college who was a baseball player wanted me to do that with him. Turns out it was the beginning for me.”
By the age of 25, McCombs also had his first car dealership. By 29, he became the youngest Edsel dealer in the United States. At one time, he headed 50 dealerships nation-wide.
As McCombs’ business grew, he sold the Clippers for $100,000 and in 1958 moved to San Antonio where he formed the Red McCombs Automotive Group.
In 1972 he formed Clear Channel Communications and purchased the San Antonio Spurs then the Dallas Chaparrals. The next year he went on to purchase the Denver Nuggets.
In 1998, he shifted his sports franchise from ownership of NBA teams to the NFL by purchasing the Minnesota Vikings for $250 million. He later sold the team for $625 million in 2005.
“I tried to operate it and take it as far as I could. It (the sports franchise) has a life of its own,” McCombs said. “I have the same philosophy in all businesses: If you can’t continue to grow, its time to let someone else step in and take over.”
Now McCombs lives in San Antonio where he heads his Automotive Group of five dealerships in the San Antonio area. McCombs has been inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame with a Distinguished Service Citation.
Throughout McCombs’ long, journey he said he has not forgotten about Del Mar College or the Sparkling City by the Bay. “Corpus Christi still has a very special place in my heart,” he said.
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