Art Rust, Jr.

Arthur George Rust Jr. (October 13, 1927 – January 12, 2010) was a successful sports broadcaster for half a century. He was also a sports historian and author. He was considered by many to have been the godfather of sports talk radio.

Career

Broadcaster After he graduated from Long Island University, he was hired by WWRL Radio in Woodside, Queens in September 1954 . He began in their merchandising department, but within two months he got on the air. At WWRL, Rust hosted the Schaefer Circle of Sports for 14 years, becoming one of the first African American sportcasters. At WWRL, Rust interviewed sports icons such as Hank Aaron and Sonny Liston. A music lover, Rust mixed up shows with interviews with artists like James Brown and Miles Davis, who was also a close friend.

He collaborated with his wife Edna on several of these books prior to her death in 1986. Devastated by the loss, for years after, Rust delivered a "Goodnight Edna baby," at the end of each "Sportstalk" broadcast. After some time he found a girlfriend in Patty Murphy and remarried in 1991. He was the father of Suzanne Rust, a writer based in New York, and grandfather to her two young children.

Later career Rust worked with New York's WBLS Radio from 1991 to 1994, but the last few years found him working selectively. He was a contributor for Black Issues Book Review and kept up with the world of sports through books, newspapers and his friends in the business. His favorite pastimes were doting on his two grandchildren and listening to his extensive collection of jazz records.

Rust died on January 12, 2010.

Selected works Rust, Art Jr., "Get That Nigger Off the Field!": A Sparkling, Informal History of the Black Man in baseball, 1976 Rust, Art Jr; Rust, Edna; Louis, Joe, Joe Louis: My Life, 1978 Rust, Art Jr., Baseball Quiz Book, 1985 Rust, Art Jr.; Rust, Edna, Art Rust's Illustrated History of the Black athlete, 1985 Rust, Art Jr.; Rust, Edna, Recollections of a Baseball Junkie, 1985 Rust, Art Jr., Legends: Conversations with Baseball Greats, 1989 Rust, Art Jr.; Strawberry, Darryl, Darryl 1992