Ed Rusher
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Ed Rusher

Band Country Singer/Songwriter

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Discography

Album Corn Fed or Grain Fed 2007
Album Cowboy Cadillac 2008 (Due Out April 30th)

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Bio

Meet Country Artist and Writer Ed Rusher

Ed Rusher is a husband, father, veteran, former college football coach, and believe it or not an Eagle Scout. Ed is the sum of his parts and the road he has traveled.

Ed was born kicking and screaming in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the son of Ed and Bettejane Rusher, and according to those parents he was never quiet from the time he launched himself from the womb!

He attended a small Lutheran parochial school named Calvary from 1st to 8th grade. It was there in the 8th grade that given the choice by Mr. August Schwark between a “whoopin” or singing he chose to sing. Well his male classmates ribbed him something fierce, but the ladies…. well that classroom is where Ed figured out that the ladies like to be sung to.

He enrolled for high school at Perry Meridian in Indianapolis. He had to adjust to having 1100 in his freshman class; versus the 16 he had attended Calvary with for 8 years. He joined the freshman choir and met lots of new folks. He was encouraged by Guy Rumsey, Music Director to audition for the Swing Choir, and became the first freshman in school history to make that choir. Needless to say, at this time he had not acquired the requisite amount of testosterone he has today, so this young man was a tenor! Vince Gill would have been proud.

After graduation he attended Indiana University and began his matriculation towards a Bachelor of Science degree. Along the way, often distracted by shiny things, he went to Purdue to walk on the football team as a meat squad linebacker. Ah, the gold helmet with a “P” on the side distracted him long enough that all of the money he had saved for college was gone.

So off to sunny San Diego and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot he merrily went. It was here that he acquired the keen sense of knowing when he had done something incorrectly. Errors committed here were pointed out quickly and effectively by the camp counselors also known as Drill Instructors. He spent a few years on active duty before returning home to finish his college education, and continued to serve in the USMC reserves.

After graduation he wound up like most recent graduates…selling life insurance. This career lasted about as long as it took for him to develop hearing loss from the sound of phones being slammed down on their receivers by prospective insurance customers. Well by happenstance Ed called on a high school in Lakeland, Florida where he was unsuccessful at selling any life insurance. He did however manage to get hired on as a teacher, football coach, strength coach, women’s tennis coach, bus duty guy, lunch room guy, and chief cook and bottle washer.

Since Ed’s days at Purdue where Strength Coach Greg Lehman had made such a strong impression on him, he had always wanted to be college strength and conditioning coach. It was at his teaching job that Ed met Howard Schnellenberger, upon meeting the coach he inquired if the University of Louisville had a strength coaching position open, and lo and behold they did.

In Ed’s 6 years at the University of Louisville, he gained the opportunity to work with some of the greatest college athletes in the country. U of L won the Fiesta Bowl and the Liberty Bowl during Ed’s tenure. He also helped prepare over 24 players who would play in the NFL, and helped many players into the baseball farm league system. He also had the opportunity to work with many former U of L basketball players who were playing in the NBA and abroad after they left U of L. During this time at U of L he wrote a monthly column in Ironman Magazine, and wrote articles for Flex and Musclemag International magazines.

During the 1990 football season the Cards went 10-1-1 and won the Fiesta Bowl over Alabama 34-7. That alone would have been enough for a normal man, but not for Ed! He got to miss the bowl game and travel to sunny Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. This government sponsored vacation package was loaded with all the glam and glitz the Department of Defense could muster. It was there as part of 8th Tnk. Bn., he helped invade and free Kuwait from that Sadaam guy. He missed the bowl game, but got some nice trinkets when he got back.

Ed dreamed of other things in the spring of 1994, namely money in his bank account. Working for U of L while emotionally and professionally rewarding, was not financially rewarding. 15 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, is what it takes to do it right in the world of college football. Working these hours for 6 years however, caused Ed to reach a point where many of the winos in Haiti earned more per year than Ed did. So out into the world he traipsed looking for more money for his family.

During this time Ed experienced the nastiness of a bitter divorce and some greedy people along the way. It was at this time it seemed he could not make enough money. He had to pay the lawyers, creditors, waiters, bartenders, and o