Henry Combs! You can’t mention the sport of track and field in the state of Minnesota without his name entering the conversation.
Combs, a track and field phenom as an athlete at St. Paul Mechanic Arts in the early 1970s, and later as a coach of the AAU I.C.A.A/Breeze at St. Paul Harding High School, has had an impact on the sport the past four decades.
Last Saturday, during halftime of the Harding/Humboldt-Como Park football game at Bakken Field, as family, friends and colleagues looked on, Combs was inducted into the Harding High School Hall of Fame.
It’s been a stellar journey for Combs. At Mechanic Arts he was quite the student athlete, becoming a St. Paul City champion as a hurdler and starring in basketball and football as well.
But it was in coaching where the man with the calm and college demeanor made his mark. While leading the Breeze, he coached a young student athlete from Irondale High School named Juriad Hughes Jr.
By the time he was a junior in 2023, Hughes Jr., now a sophomore on scholarship at the University of Arkansas, broke the 41-year-old long jump record set by St. Paul Central’s Von Sheppard in 1982.
In 1994 Combs started his coaching journey at Harding. From 2005-2008 he coached Sade Pollard, one of the most dominant sprinters in state history. In 2018, St. Paul Johnson senior Keylon Jackson, yet another member of the Breeze, was the St. Paul City Conference champion in the 100, 200, and 400 meter runs.
The tribute written about Combs for the ceremony described his accolades as a coach, but most of it focused on his dedication to countless youth in St. Paul’s Rondo and Eastside communities.
“Coach Combs has dedicated his life to providing opportunities for students to excel in all sports,” wrote Harding graduate and Hall of Fame member Anna-Marie Larson Allen. “Coach Combs’ desire to give back to the community is deep-rooted and non-negotiable.”
Overall, it was a great day for Combs. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, himself a state champion sprinter as a student athlete at St. Paul Central in the late 1990s, was in attendance to proclaim Saturday, September 25, 2025, Henry Combs Day.
Larson Allen, who coached track and field with Combs, had plenty to say about her mentor and colleague, who retired at the end of last season. “I’m just happy that I coached with Coach Combs, Larson-Allen said. “Blessed he mentored me, took me under his wing, and treated me like family.”
The former Harding student athlete, who also coaches cross country at her alma mater, had more to say, indicating that while Combs will be missed, there is still some unfinished business. “I will miss him deeply this year and no one could ever replace him,” she said. “In the remaining time I’m at Harding I will do whatever I can to get the track and field named after him in his honor.”
Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader comments to mcdeezy05@gmail.com.