Facebook / Red McCombs Ford
San Antonio businessman Red McCombs is perhaps best known locally for bringing the Spurs to San Antonio, the city's only professional sportss team.
McCombs was well-known in the San Antonio community for his business ventures, sports ownership and philanthropic pursuits.
“We mourn the loss of a Texan icon,” the McCombs family said in a statement.
The son of an auto mechanic, McCombs grew up in the small west Texas town of Spur before moving to San Antonio and founding what would become the Red McCombs Automotive Group.
However, McCombs is perhaps best known locally for bringing the then-Dallas Chaparrals to San Antonio in 1973 in what would become the city's first — and still only — professional sports franchise, the Spurs.
Later, McCombs went on to purchase the Denver Nuggets and the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. His ventures outside of the sports and automotive worlds, included cattle ranches, oil and gas and considerable investment in Clear Chanel Communications, the controversial San Antonio-based company that consolidated the radio industry.
McCombs also was admired for his philanthropic pursuits, donating more than $135 million to charitable entities, including the University of Texas at Austin and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
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