State honors beloved fan

PALMER — When it came to community service, Mary Combs always batted 1.000.

The matriarch of the homesteading Combs family, Mary and husband Earl spent decades reaching out to their neighbors. Much of that support revolved around the family’s love for baseball. Through their business, Combs Insurance, the couple supported Palmer Little League for more than 40 years. In 1976, Mary Combs was the first vice president of the board of directors for the Valley Green Giants, which later became the Mat-Su Miners.

It was a fitting scene on Sunday as Mary Combs, who died in November, and her family were honored with a Legislative Citation recognizing their contribution to baseball in the Mat-Su.

“The Combs family is synonymous with Valley baseball,” said Pete Christopher, general manager for the Mat-Su Miners. “They were instrumental in getting the Valley Green Giants here in 1976. (Mary’s) son Mike started the Palmer High School program and now his son, David, is the coach.”

Mary Combs’ commitment to community went far beyond the diamond. She was active in the local Democratic Party and was always looking out for the Palmer Food Bank and Salvation Army.

But it was her passion for baseball that kept her active in the Miners organization for decades, said Nell Zaborac, a longtime friend and wife of former Miners general manager Stan Zaborac.

“In ’76 there were 10 of us that put in $5,000, and that was a lot of money then, to start the Valley Green Giants,” she said from her box seat prior to Sunday’s game at Hermon Brothers Field. “She loved it all. Most of the time she was at the ticket gate and she would come in at the fifth inning.”

As a fan, Mary Combs would always lead the crowd in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch, said Chuck Griffin. Griffin spent more than 30 years watching local baseball from a seat behind the Combs family.

“Without her, there wouldn’t be a Mat-Su Miners team,” Griffin said. “She would sit right in front of us, and when the seventh inning stretch came along, she’d turn around. And, if you weren’t standing up and ready to sing, she’d glare at you.”

Mary Combs was named Alaskan Baseball Woman of the Year in 1985 by the U.S. Baseball Association and the 2002 Miners season was dedicated to her. Although gone, her influence is still strong, said son Mike Combs, who was on hand Sunday with brothers Ron and John to accept the legislative citation.

Mike Combs remembers how his mother was not shy to let an umpire know when he had missed a call.

“She did an awful lot of yell at the ump,” he said. “But the time the game was over, he usually got it right.”

Ron Combs said he felt his mother’s presence at the ballpark on Sunday.

“Her love was baseball, that’s certainly true,” he said.

The players, coaches and fans “were a second family for her,” said son and Palmer Mayor John Combs. “This is a great honor today.”

Although it may have been difficult for those original Valley Green Giants board members to visualize what the organization would grow to, “My mother imagined it from the very start,” John Combs said. “She had that vision.”

Sunday’s presentation was an official way for state lawmakers to extend a thank you to Mary Combs and her family, state Rep. Bill Stoltze, who sponsored the citation in the Legislature.

“We give thanks with you for the life of this exemplary Alaskan,” the citation reads.

For Stoltze, Mary Combs’ passion is also his own.

“We have the common religion of baseball,” he said. “She’s missed, no doubt about it, but not forgotten.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.