Earle Bryan Combs left the mountains of eastern Kentucky at 17 to be a schoolteacher, and ended up enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. After young Earle eventually turned his attention to a career in baseball, he earned a spot as centerfielder and leadoff hitter for the famed New York Yankee “Murderers Row” lineup of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. The 1927 World Champion Yankee team, which of course also featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig among a lineup including five Hall of Famers, is thought by many to be the greatest team in baseball history. However, through all the fame and notoriety gained from his successful baseball career, Earle never changed. A devoted husband and father, he practiced the values learned growing up in Pebworth, Kentucky; honesty, hard work and an unassuming modesty and adherence to “The Golden Rule,” all his life.