Creative Oscar Combs Changed Coverage of College Athletics

Oscar Combs and Tony Delk, two new Kentucky Sports Hall of Famers. (Louisville Sports Commission Photo)

Legendary LSU basketball coach Dale Brown can still remember the first time he saw a Cats’ Pause Basketball Yearbook.

“It was beautiful. It was like Sports Illustrated,” said Brown. “I remember reading it and thinking what a recruiting tool for the University of Kentucky basketball. I knew right ten we had to do more at LSU. I started a TV show and we did some other things just to try to keep up with what Oscar was doing.”

Oscar is Oscar Combs, an eastern Kentucky native who started covering UK athletics at the Hazard Herald in 1965 and founded the Cats’ Pause in 1976. It was the first independent publication to cover a major athletics program and was the start of what eventually became a nationwide trend.

Combs, along with UK basketball great Tony Delk of UK’s 1996 national championship team, was inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame Monday night.

“Oscar was a catalyst for making basketball even better at Kentucky. He knew what he was talking about and did a really good job with what he was doing,” Brown said. “He was ahead of his time.”

Former UK quarterback Derrick Ramsey led the Cats to a Peach Bowl berth in 1976 and a 10-1 season in 1977. He appreciated what Combs, who was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2000, did and thought Combs’ publication pushed UK ahead of other SEC schools.

“It was  place you could always find current information and see what the Cats were doing and what some players I had played with were doing as I got older,” Ramsey said. “Oscar was innovative and gave you a spot to find information about the Cats. It was a great vehicle to get information out o the Cat Nation.

“I always told Big O I was coming for my piece of the pie for helping get Cats’ Pause off the ground with our winning seasons but truthfully I am indebted to him because he’s been a dear friend and we’ve talked about a lot of things over the years. But I think most UK fans considered him a friend because of the information he provided.”

Ramsey was right. Combs became a friend to UK fans everywhere. Some he knew, some just knew about him. But Kentucky fans loved Combs and still do.

Combs sold the Cats’ Pause in 1997 but starting in 1998 was co-host of the UK Radio  Network pregame coverage that gave him another vehicle to provide information and connect with UK fans.

Brown built a lasting relationship with Combs and grew to admire his passion for Kentucky sports.

“When I first met him I could not judge him. He was a relatively quiet guy. He was a Kentucky fan but in a professional way,” Brown said. “He was respectful of the program but also honest about the program. He really made an impact on me.”

Former Kentucky All-American Kenny Walker quickly learned about the Cats’ Pause on his official visit. The Georgia native was getting off the plane in Lexington when an airline employee who opened the door asked if he played basketball.

“I said, ‘I’m Kenny Walker.’ He told me he had been reading about me in the Cats’ Pause and he told me my stats. He asked if he could get an autograph and that was the first time I had ever signed an autograph,” Walker said.

He remembers thinking UK coaches had positioned the fan to do that and he told UK assistant coach Leonard Hamilton it was “pretty cool” to welcome him that way.

“He told me that guy was just a fan. That was the first time I heard of the Cats’ Pause but it let me know right away about how important that publication was to UK fans,” Walker said. “Oscar having the creativity and ingenuity to do that not just for UK basketball fans but for UK sports fans in general was great.

“He covered all sports and did it in his own unique way. He was authentic, truthful and honest which I appreciated as a player but he also respected coaches and players.”

Walker said even though his UK career ended 40 years ago it is not unusual if he does an autograph signing for fans to show up with Cats’ Pause yearbooks or weekly publications.

“They would all still be in great condition and fans would tell me they have been saving them for years to get them signed,” Walker said. “That’s the impact his publications had. Fans could hold on to UK memories because of him and that’s a great legacy for anyone to have.”