The man without any family skeletons

(Published May 25, 1993.)

"Rusty and I became friends back in '64. We played on the same baseball team in Babe Ruth League," recalls boyhood pal Craig Valle of St. Louis.

"The first thing we noticed that we had in common was the love of baseball although Rusty played football too. We were both pitchers. When we were not pitching, we played first base. We spent a lot of time together practicing our pitching.

"Rusty is self educated. I think he might have been a speed reader. He always read a lot of newspapers and books. He always had the ability to communicate with people his own age as well as with adults.

"I still sense the same basic personality in Rusty. He respects people. He treats people fairly. He has a tremendous sense of humor."

Valle's friendship with Rush has spurred calls and visits from journalists. "It started with a feature in Vanity Fair and during the next several months I was contacted by Reader's Digest. My worst experience was with a supermarket tabloid reporter. He misrepresented himself and he talked so fast that he left the impression that he was with the New Yorker.

"I was put off by the personal questions that he asked so I tried to keep my answers general and generic. Some questions were so outrageous that I refused to answer them. That did not matter. He made up answers and then attributed them to me. I made a point of contacting Rusty to assure him that those were not my words."

However, "It's not difficult to talk about Rusty. He doesn't have any family secrets or skeletons. He has never been in any trouble... never done anything bad to anyone.

"Recently I took my kid to visit Millie. She suggested that we call Rusty. I told her that he probably would not be able to reach him. She replied with a smile, 'I am his mother. He will return my call.' Millie dialed the number. We got the answering machine. Millie said, 'Rusty, this is your mother. You better pick up the phone.' He did."

To some degree, things have not changed much over the years. "I spent many hours with Rusty at KGMO. I would sit in the studio and watch him play records and tinker. He is still tinkering. He loves gadgets. When a new gadget comes out, he has to have it. It is not uncommon for him to get one for him and one for his mother. Millie must have at least VCRs.

"What is fun for me," said Valle, "is when I recognize a gesture, facial expression or timing in delivery that he had almost 30 years ago."