SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs announced Wednesday that the McCombs family is now part of the team’s investor group.
The move reconnects the McCombs family with the Spurs family, as late patriarch Red McCombs owned the Spurs at two separate times and was instrumental in bringing the team to the Alamo City in the 1970s.
The McCombs family joins Michael Dell, the CEO and founder of Dell Technologies; Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb; global investment firm Sixth Street; and others as strategic partners in the Spurs’ investor group.
The Holt family remains the largest shareholder of the Spurs.
In the early 1970s, McCombs and a group of local businessmen, including Angelo Drossos, John Schaefer and Art Burdick brought professional basketball to San Antonio.
They purchased the failing Dallas Chaparrals before the 1973-1974 season and renamed it the Spurs. They played their first game against the San Diego Conquistadors on Oct. 10, 1973, at the HemisFair Arena.
McCombs, a car dealership and communications magnate and philanthropist, died in February at 95 years old.
“Red, Charline and the entire McCombs family mean so much to the Spurs and San Antonio,” Peter J. Holt, SS&E managing partner, said in a news release. “To see the McCombs family come full circle and officially welcome them back into our investor group is beyond special. Red was a visionary whose bold work shaped San Antonio and put us on the global map. The McCombs family is continuing his legacy and together with our entire investor group, we are committed to seeing the Spurs and this great city thrive.”
While McCombs was known as a multi-business tycoon across Texas, he and his wife, Charline, planted their roots in San Antonio. She passed away in December 2019.
The family spans four generations and includes 32 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
McCombs Enterprises is operated by second and third-generation family members.
“The entire McCombs family is thrilled to renew our connection to the Spurs and join Peter John, Corinna, and the Holt family as Strategic Partners,” said Joseph Shields, grandson of Charline and Red McCombs and executive vice president of McCombs Enterprises.
The addition to the Spurs’ investor group has been approved by the NBA Board of Governors and executed.
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