Owsley County hosts inaugural Earle Combs Classic today, honoring local Hall of Famer

Owsley County High School turned its baseball field into a hometown tribute Saturday, opening the inaugural Earle Combs Classic with an 11 a.m. matchup against Richmond Model. The event put a Hall of Famer from Pebworth back at the center of county baseball and gave Booneville families a chance to see local history honored on the same ground where the Owls were playing.

Combs was born in Pebworth, in Owsley County, on May 14, 1899, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970. Owsley County High School said the Classic recognized that Combs was born and raised in the Pebworth community, a rare tie between a small Kentucky county and one of baseball’s most famous franchises.

His entire Major League career came with the New York Yankees, where he played from 1924 to 1935 and later coached from 1936 to 1943. The Kentucky historical marker in Pebworth says Combs finished with a .325 lifetime batting average and helped New York win 11 pennants and nine World Series. It also notes that he was elected to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 1963.

Long before he became a Yankees fixture, Combs attended Eastern Kentucky State Normal School in Richmond, where he played multiple sports and hit .591 in his final year. He also taught in one-room schools in Kentucky before committing fully to professional baseball, a path that tied rural classroom life to a career that reached the top of the sport.

The Baseball Hall of Fame describes Combs as a lead-off hitter and center fielder on successful Yankees teams of the 1920s and 1930s, a profile that fit the era’s speed and skill. His coaching years stretched his influence into another generation, making the tribute in Owsley County more than a ceremony. It was a reminder that one of Kentucky’s most accomplished ballplayers came from Pebworth, and that his story still belongs to the county that raised him.