Pioneering sportscaster Art Rust Jr. dies

NEW YORK (AP) -- Pioneering African-American sportscaster and author Art Rust Jr. has died at age 82.

His daughter, Suzanne Rust, said he died Tuesday in New York after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease.

Rust got his start at New York radio station WWRL and worked at NBC from 1967-73. In the 1980s he hosted a popular sports talk radio show on WABC.

His daughter said Rust considered himself a sports historian more than anything. Baseball and boxing were his favorites, and his books included autobiographies written with Joe Louis and Darryl Strawberry, along with an oral history of black baseball players that explored their struggles against racism.