SAN ANTONIO (Talk1370.com) -- One of the Alamo City's most prominent businessmen with deep ties to the University of Texas has died.
Billy Joe "Red" McCombs passed away Sunday at the age of 95, according to a statement from family members.
"The entire McCombs Family is heartbroken to announce that our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Red McCombs, passed away on Sunday, February 19," the family statement reads. "As he drew his last breath peacefully at home, he was surrounded by family who loved and adored him."
McCombs was born in 1927 in the West Texas town of Spur. After serving in the Army during World War II, he came to UT-Austin to study business and law. He made his way to Corpus Christi where he started working at a Ford dealership, and then made his way to San Antonio - building the Ford dealership now bearing his name, part of the Red McCombs Automotive Group.
He was a relentless champion of the Alamo City - serving as the vice-chair of the HemisFair executive committee in the 1960s that brought the 1968 World's Fair to San Antonio - which brought national and worldwide attention to South Texas.
McCombs, in a partnership with his friend Lowry Mays, bought a fledgling radio station in San Antonio in 1972 - the beginnings of an empire that would become known as Clear Channel Communications, which would turn into one of the largest broadcasting companies in the country.
He was also part of the ownership group that brought professional basketball to San Antonio in 1973 in what would eventually become the NBA's Spurs. He also owned the NBA's Denver Nuggets in the 1980s and the NFL's Minnesota Vikings from 1998-2005. McCombs was also one of the first investors in Austin's Circuit of the Americas.
A proud Longhorn, McCombs donated $50 million to the University of Texas in 2000, which named its business school in his honor - the Red McCombs School of Business. The Longhorns' softball stadium as well as the northern end zone at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium are both named in his honor as well.
McCombs also gave generously to Southwestern University in Georgetown, where he played football before entering the military. He served on the university's board of trustees from 1987 through 2014, honored as a distinguished alumnus in 1990 and an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1997.
The McCombs Foundation, officially created in 1998, and the McCombs family have donated more than $135 million to civic causes across Texas - including a $30 million donation in 2005 to M.D. Anderson, which led to the creation of the McCombs Institute for the Early Detection and Treatment of Cancer.
"Red was a visionary entrepreneur who touched many lives and impacted our community in immeasurable ways," a statement from the family reads. "But to us he was always, first and foremost, “Dad” or “Poppop." We mourn the loss of a Texas icon."
McCombs, preceded in death in 2019 by his wife of 69 years, Charline, is survived by his three children along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
