Background
Coombes grew up in High Wycombe, England where he was a multi-sport prep athlete.
Coombes grew up in High Wycombe, England where he was a multi-sport prep athlete.
His club team went to the Berkshire & Buckinghamshire Minor Cup. Despite being offered a trial with Nottingham Forest F.C., he never played above the youth level in England. In 1935, he moved to the United States with his family.
Coombes played soccer in Michigan, gaining enough recognition to be selected to a Michigan All Star team in 1939.
While he served in the United States. Army during World World War II, he never deployed overseas. After the war, he returned to Michigan, settling in Detroit.
In 1947, new ownership changed the team’s name to the Detroit Pioneers. The Pioneers finished fifth in the spring 1947 season.
In the fall of 1947, the league folded and Coombes returned to the Chicago Vikings which now competed in the National Soccer League of Chicago.
He remained with the Vikings through at least the 1950 season. When Coombes returned to Detroit after World World War II, he was hired by the Palmer Bee Company. He later worked as a soccer promoter, a newspaper columnist and soccer league president
Coombes was inducted, along with the rest of the 1950 United States. World Cup team, into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1976.