Former NC State baseball player Chris Combs passes away after battle with ALS
Former N.C. State baseball player Chris Combs, who bravely battled ALS since 2016, succumbed to the disease Thursday morning, according to a facebook post by his brother, Ryan.
“On Sept. 3 my brother, Chris Combs, lost his long and hard fought battle against ALS,” Ryan Combs said in the post. “Chris gave it all that he had and battled against this dreadful disease for 5 years.
“Chris was my hero and mentor and as hard as it is to say goodbye, I know that he is no longer in pain and is at peace in Heaven watching over all of us.”
Over the past four years, Combs raised more than $4 million for Project ALS in desperate search of a treatment or cure. It didn’t come in time for him, but the money he raised enabled research that could help others, which is all Combs really wanted — that, and more time with his wife Gena, daughters Anne Marie and Ava and son Christopher.
“God has a plan, I believe that,” Combs said in 2016. “With this disease, there’s a lot of variation to it. Some people pass away within a year and some people live with it for 10 years. You don’t know. Hopefully, I have a number of years left and in that time, I can make a difference.”
N.C. State retired Combs’ jersey number in the spring, hanging his No. 26 on the outfield wall.
“As great of a player as Chris Combs was, his contributions to N.C. State baseball goes well beyond statistics and accolades, and far beyond wins and loses,” Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said in a statement at the time. “He represents the best in human spirit, the best of what it means to wear an N.C. State baseball jersey, and it’s only fitting his number should be honored for everyone who steps into our ballpark to see.”
A baseball prodigy as a child and the bearer of a famous name in N.C. State sports — his father Francis and uncle Freddie played on the 1968 College World Series team — Chris Combs starred at Broughton High and stayed home in Raleigh to play for first Ray Tanner and then Elliott Avent with the Wolfpack.
At 6-foot-7, the lefty first baseman and outfielder hit 42 home runs at N.C. State, tied for fifth in school history, many of them of remarkable height and distance. Combs was a 14th-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers after his junior season at N.C. State but returned for his senior year and was drafted in the fifth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1997 — as a pitcher. Combs could throw in the 90s, too.
Combs spent three seasons in the minor leagues before injuries derailed his career. After retiring, he worked for the Wolfpack Club, N.C. State’s athletic fundraising arm, for 14 years, until his disease required full-time care.
ALS was already all too familiar to the Combs family: Francis and Freddie Combs grew up in Hertford in Perquimans County with Catfish Hunter -- “Jimmy,” to them -- who died of ALS in 1999.
Last May, the Wolfpack Club raised money from Combs’ friends to establish a $400,000 scholarship endowment in Combs’ honor, but Combs raised even more money for ALS research on his own. His annual gala raised millions. The last, at the Umstead Hotel in September, was hosted by Ben Stiller. He was tireless in his efforts while he was able, and even after he was confined to bed, would text friends and tweet using the voice recognition on his cell phone.
Combs entered hospice care in March and several former teammates flew in from around the country to visit with him. No visitor from outside the family was more frequent than Avent, who became the head coach at N.C. State before Combs’ senior year and has held the position since.
“Being loved is probably the greatest feeling in the world,” Avent said last year, “and there’s nobody more loved than Chris Combs.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 9:23 AM.
