Al DeRusha, pioneer in Minnesota sports and kids TV and a pro wrestling promoter, has died

A Hall of Fame career in any profession is rare. Al DeRusha put together two of them.

In separate interviews for the induction video for each Hall of Fame, DeRusha recalled how fortunate he was.

In 2015, he was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In his introductory video, DeRusha described why he enjoyed his 20-year career in local television: “You couldn’t wait to get to work the next day, because it was so much fun.”

Two years later, he was honored by the Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA) Hall of Fame for his 30-year career. In that induction video, DeRusha, who was 82 at the time and still working, was asked about retirement. He responded that he did not want to discuss it.

“It has been one great carnival ride,” DeRusha said, “and I don’t want it to stop.”

DeRusha worked three more years before retiring at the age of 85. DeRusha died Nov. 4 at his home in Burnsville. He would have turned 89 on Nov. 8.

DeRusha, who was born in St. Paul in 1935, started working in television in 1953 while still a student at St. Paul Humboldt High School. He began in the mail room and as a propman at WMIN-TV, which eventually became KARE-11.

“I had only seen TV in the hardware store window,” DeRusha told Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse in 2015. “I was a senior and a job opened up at a TV station.”

DeRusha said he got the job because he had a driver’s license, a requirement because the job shuttled between studios in downtown St. Paul and Uptown in Minneapolis.

In 1956, he became a floor director, and three years later he was promoted to producer and director.

Over the next 14 years, he directed and produced shows for children – “Lunch with Casey,” “Romper Room” and “Popeye & Pete.” He also directed “Mel’s Matinee Movie,” with Mel Jass.

During his time with Channel 11, he directed TV coverage of the Twins, the Vikings, the North Stars and high school state tournaments and college sports. He also directed election coverage.

While still working at Channel 11, he started directing All-Star Wrestling for Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA). In 1973, he left Channel 11 to concentrate on his duties with the AWA. He promoted matches and directed interviews and on occasion served as a bout referee.

In 1983, he left the AWA and joined Vince McMahon’s WWE (later known as the WWF). In 1985, he returned to Minnesota and promoted AWA shows in the Midwest.

DeRusha ended his career as a wrestling promoter in 1990, when he became the senior vice president of the OABA, a trade organization for circuses and mobile carnivals. He traveled throughout the United States and Canada promoting the association.

DeRusha was familiar with the carnival business. The youngest of 11 children, he got his first carnival job at the age of 8 on Harriet Island, which was adjacent to his family’s home on the Westside Flats. He worked for carnivals for the next 10 years. At the age of 14, he met a carnival worker named Marlene Flanders. They started dating three years later and married in 1955.

DeRusha is also a member of the Midwest Showmen’s Association Hall of Fame and the Showmen’s League of America Hall of Honor.

At the time of DeRusha’s induction, the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame had 160 members. During his career in Twin Cities television, he worked with and directed 36 of the Hall’s members.

In addition to his wife, DeRusha is survived by sons Gary, Glenn and Gregg and daughter Julie Pritchard; eight grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Services have been held.