The Star: May 06, 2021

Thursday May 6 2021 The Star
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 17
and a tremendous all-round guy
And therein lies a classic tale
about two mates, which Menzies
describes as “the best gotcha
ever’’.
“Drinking at our watering hole,
the Albion, one afternoon, stupid
me told John about our little dog
going missing and our daughter
Kristy being really upset. Shortly
after John said he had to go, he
had some work to do.
‘The next morning, when I
turned up at work, the editor
Michael Forbes called me into his
office [for a please explain]. On
his desk lay a copy of The Press
and on the front page there was
a photo of my daughter sitting in
the little dog’s box.
“John had even conned my
wife into keeping it quiet from
me. My best mate had got me a
beauty.’’
It’s possible, of course, that
McCombe’s “scoop’’ may have
been in retaliation for an earlier
“gotcha’’ when he and Menzies
were covering a cricket test at
Lancaster Park.
“By early afternoon nothing
was happening, it was so boring,’’
Menzies says, “and John said: ‘I’m
going to get a pie’.
“He stood up, turned around
and ‘bang’, there was a wicket.
Smiling, I said ‘that was a great
shot’. There were no more wickets
and my old mate was very quiet
for the rest of the day!’’.
And so, in 1975, McCombe
jumped ship and joined his
Kilmore St-based evening paper
contemporaries, the illustrations
department being run by Max
Wederell, who commanded a
star-studded team that included
Menzies, Neville Hawke, Derrick
Tonkin, and in later years Simon
Baker, Don Scott and several
others.
Working alongside these
“guns’’ brought out the best in
(Above and
below) – A
selection
McCombe’s
images from
the past
including
this couple
(left) at
Christchurch
Airport
awaiting
news of
the ill-fated
Air New
Zealand
flight to
Antarctica.
McCombe as both a photographer
and a journalist, honing
his skills alongside his talented
colleagues. Former Star chief reporter
John Crowley recalls Mc-
Combe becoming “the complete
newsman’’.
“John’s skills were not confined
to those of a photographer when
we went on some of those more
challenging jobs. His extra sharp
news sense was underpinned by
multi-layers of care and compassion.
“These were traits which helped
reporters – young and old. In the
most stressful times he was a cool
head and a guiding hand at arm’s
length. These qualities were so
apparent too when it came to his
own profession – one in which he
had few peers.’’
McCombe would eventually
become The Star’s chief photographer
and continue to have
a major influence on his team,
including Baker, who joined the
camera crew in 1986 as a “young,
naive lad from the Waikato.’’
“Right from the first day John
made me feel welcome. He was
always there for advice and guidance
as I tried to justify my place
amongst the team of talented
photographers.’’
Baker stayed at The Star for
five years and came to regard his
boss as a “top bloke’, perhaps illustrated
best when he decided to
become a freelance photographer
in 1991.
“John had left to do the same
thing a year earlier, so we were
to be direct competitors in
Christchurch, but this didn’t faze
him. He generously offered his
darkroom and other equipment
to me as I started to get my business
up and running. And we
continued to work alongside each
other for the next 25 years.’’
But it wasn’t just photographers
at The Star who benefitted from
McCombe’s professionalism and
warm-hearted attitude to his
newsroom contemporaries.
Reporter Debbie Hannan describes
him as “the glue that held
us all together’.’
“He was one of those people
in life that made everyone feel
special, which is what I think
made him such an exceptional
photographer and workmate.’’
Hannan also recalls during the
often violent 1981 Springbok tour
when McCombe acted quickly to
save her from possible injury after
getting caught as the “meat in the
sandwich’’ between protestors and
the infamous police Red Squad.
The pair were assigned to cover
the pre-match clash outside the
gates of Lancaster Park, knowing
Star management had secured a
“safe house’’ across the road, just
in case things turned nasty.
• Turn to page 18
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