Friends and associated shared stories and paid respects to billionaire B.J. “Red”...
with people who’d begun lining up early for a chance to pay their respects.
“It’s not how you’re knocked down, it’s how you get back up,” McCombs told Abbott during their first conversation.“Red has etched an everlasting imprint in this world. Long after all of us are gone, Red’s legacy will continue to shape our state, our country and this great city,” Abbott told the crowd. “Texas and San Antonio — and all of us — will be better for it.
Also early in the line for a seat was Goldine Cliver who said her late husband Jim worked for McCombs for about 20 years — and whose son now oversees the auto dealership. She said the McCombs family was there for her family when her husband died. Two days later, Popovich heard a voice: “Hey Popper, come over here, boy.” Pulling Popovich’s head into his chest, McCombs chastised him, “Son, if you ever want to talk to me, don’t talk to me in the paper.”“She just looked at me and said, ‘How are the kids, Pop?’ And I understood then what I was involved in’ with the Spurs “family.”
To show that beneath that tough outer shell there was “a whole lot of mush,” Popovich read from an end-of-the-season letter McCombs sent him. Marty Wender, who spearheaded the transformation of San Antonio’s far West Side, said McCombs was his friend and mentor for over 40 years — and a salesman through and through. McCombs played a major role in lining up the land and support for Texas 151 and SeaWorld San Antonio, Wender said.
“He was bigger than life,” McCombs’ niece Paula McCombs, daughter of his late brother, said before the service. “He was the leader of the family, always.”Professional photographer Al Rendon said he has photographed McCombs many times since the early ‘90s, both for the Express-News and, after leaving the paper years ago, as a freelancer hired to record family or other events.
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