Like many of you, I grew up watching and rooting for the Kentucky Wildcats. Since my dad was a minister, our social lives centered around church events, family gatherings, and the Kentucky Wildcats.
That’s the way it was. There was no Facebook, Twitter or computer for that matter. We had a phone, but it was a landline and it was more of a nuisance than a necessity since we lived in the country on Walnut Meadow Road in Madison County.
We had a color television, but no cable, and at most, we picked up five channels over the antenna. Thanks to my grandparents who lived in “town” I later discovered there were more channels than five over the airwaves.
During the growing-up years, my favorite past-time was reading the newspaper, magazines and “The Cats Pause” Basketball Yearbook. Every fall, I couldn’t wait to pick one up and read it from cover-to-cover more than once before, during and after basketball season.
I still have many of those yearbooks in my attic and glean over the pages and reminisce great journalism every once in a while. I especially enjoyed the color editions that came out in the mid-1980s.
Before the internet and websites, Oscar Combs was a pioneer in Kentucky sports journalism and launched The Cats Pause in an era when weekly publications devoted to covering college athletic teams were unheard of at the time. He had a vision, a plan and took a gamble on putting out a weekly publication that’s now in its 40th year of publication.
Although he no longer owns The Cats Pause, Oscar, 72, remained very active in UK athletics since leaving the business and has been a major part of the UK Radio Network. Earlier this week, Oscar announced he was stepping down from his duties as part of the network to focus on another chapter in his life.
I’m sad to see Oscar leave the network, but happy to hear he plans to tweet about UK sports and possibly through other venues. That makes me happy.
Last spring, Oscar, Jeff Drummond, Brian Rickerd and I piled up in Brian’s van and took a road trip to Des Moines, Iowa to cover Kentucky’s appearance in the first- and second-round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
To say the least, it was one of the most memorable experiences of my career to tag along with Oscar, hearing his stories about the Cincinnati Reds, the Kentucky Wildcats and his time as publisher of the Cats Pause.
Oscar shared the struggles of his publication being relevant in the media during the early years and how he fought to make sure his publication wasn’t treated any differently than the larger publications, especially large, metro daily newspapers.
During our trek to Des Moines, the four of us shared conversations and meals, not to mention an all-night drive back to Kentucky following the loss to Indiana, the only time I’ve ever purchased a 5-Hour Energy drink.
It was during those times I cherished the wisdom and knowledge Oscar has not only when to comes to UK sports, but life in general.
One of the conversations Oscar and I shared during that trip to Des Moines changed my life and helped put some things into perspective. Although I’m a little younger than Oscar, we share the same core values in our profession and the game of life.
More than a mentor, I’m proud to call Oscar Combs my friend.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward and NKyTribune, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter