9
90
YRS OF RED
ON A MILESTONE BIRTHDAY, LET’S CELEBRATE THE BIG-AS-TEXAS LIFE STORY OF THE McCOMBS SCHOOL’S BIGGEST BENEFACTOR
1957
Red McCombs and Dennis Walker at his Edsel dealership in Corpus Christi
1958
Moves to San Antonio and starts work at Hemphill Ford
1950
1936
Red’s First Venture: Selling Peanuts
1939
1945
1948
Red graduates high school
Leaves college and begins selling cars in Corpus Christi
Red delivers milk seven days a week to customers’ doorsteps, from the back fender of a Model A Ford
Red proposes to his sweetheart, Charline Hamblin, in her grandmother’s driveway
1953
Red owns his first car dealership
1962
1954
Buys the Corpus Christi Clippers minor league baseball team
As president of what’s now Hemphill-McCombs Ford, Red (right) presents singing cowboy Rex Allen with keys to a Thunderbird for use in appearances
1946
1927
1942
Red is born on Oct. 19 in Spur, Texas
He earns $1 a day as a drug store soda jerk
1937
Red gets a paper route
1927
“I was an entrepreneur before I knew what the word meant, and certainly before I could spell it.”
1 TODAY.McCOMBS.UTEXAS.EDU
After enlisting in the Army, Red arrives in Seoul, Korea, on Thanksgiving Day
1943
The McCombs family moves to Corpus Christi
1947
Red enrolls at UT
RED’S COLORFUL LIFE ART BY BRADLEY HUGHES