Al De Rusha

Inducted 2015

Al De Rusha’s experience traveling with carnivals, starting at the age of nine, prepared him for his legendary career in Minnesota’s television industry. If you ever watched All Star Wrestling or Channel 11’s children’s shows, then you’ve seen Al’s work.

Al started as a mailboy and propman at WMIN-TV in 1953. When WMIN-TV and WTCN-TV merged in 1956 he became a floor director at the new headquarters in the Calhoun Beach Hotel. In 1959 he was promoted to producer and director. Over the years Al has worked with and directed more than 36 members of the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He directed TV coverage of the Twins, the Vikings, and the North Stars. In 1961 Al started directing All Star Wrestling for Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association. In 1973 he left Channel 11 and stayed with Verne and the AWA, promoting matches, directing interviews, and traveling to major wrestling venues with wrestlers like the Crusher, Andre the Giant, and Jesse Ventura. In 1985 he went to New York and worked with Vince McMahon’s WWE. In 1987 he came back to the Twin Cities and worked for the AWA until he joined the Outdoor Amusement Business Association in 1990. Since then he has conducted fund-raising events for the OABA at more than 30 carnivals a year as well as industry-related conventions and trade shows across the United States and Canada.