Submitted photoDr. Sonny Rush and his wife, Karen. 

Meridian has lost yet another local legend as Dr. Sonny Rush, 68, passed away Friday, Aug. 20, at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, surrounded by his family.

Dr. Rush, known affectionally as “Dr. Sonny,” graduated from Meridian High School in 1970 before earning a degree from the University of Mississippi. He received his Doctorate of Medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center and completed his residency training in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans.

Dr. Bill Woods describes his close friendship with the man who was born just five days before him.

“While I had to stay in an incubator under a lightbulb for a few weeks. Sonny was probably out there already shaking hands on the way out of the hospital door. That was just Sonny,” he laughs.

“We grew up friends and as happy as friends could possibly be, but he was like that with everyone. Not just me.” Woods recalled. “That’s why they ended up calling him ‘The Governor.’ We studied hard at Ole Miss, crammed for chemistry or biology exams at Sardis with Lee Valentine and Kim McDonald. His real gift, to just be kind to others, was indeed Sonny’s crowning attribute, and he exemplified that in every dimension of his life. He left no family, friend, or stranger unattended. He saw the merit and lived it, and it made him who he was.”

Valentine agrees.

“I learned over time what a genuine man he was when I got to know him in college,” he said.

As a kid from Decatur, I had never been to New Orleans. Sonny took me under his wing. He asked me, ’Do you like raw oysters?’ I looked at him in disbelief. We went to Felix’s Oyster Bar that night, and he taught me to eat and like raw oysters. Our friendship has grown over the past 35 years. I consider him one of my closest friends. He was an outstanding person, husband, father, and friend. I will miss him terribly.”

Dr. David Makey, a surgeon at Rush, credits Sonny Rush as the reason he moved his practice and his family to Meridian.

“We were at Ochsner together; Sonny was my intern, and we became friends,” he said. “While there, he served as the Chief Orthopedic Intern. He encouraged me to check out Meridian. Thirty-nine years later, we are still here. Our families became close, so I feel like I have lost a member of my own family with Sonny’s passing,” he said.

A broad impact

Dr. Rush founded the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in 1984 when he returned to Meridian. A third generation Rush physician and the first orthopedic surgeon in the Rush family, he sensed the need for a sports medicine program.

In 1987, he founded the Rush Sports Medicine Team, a group of orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, and athletic trainers who supported over forty local high schools and colleges in Mississippi and west Alabama. In 1992, he founded Rush Sports Medicine Research and Development, and in his desire to protect young athletes, he patented several cutting-edge technologies, such as protective helmets and concussion sensors.

Carter Burns, now a medical student at Meharry Medical College is Nashville, was among the many impacted by Dr. Rush’s expertise.

In 2008, Burns attended Oak Hill Academy in West Point and was a varsity football player. His team traveled to Lamar School for a Friday game. That night, Burns was severely injured on the field, and Dr. Rush, the team doctor, recognized the severity of his injuries.

He insisted Burns be transported to the hospital immediately.

“Dr. Sonny had been researching his protective helmet, and he recognized the severity of my condition,” Burns recalled. “He contacted Dr. David Malloy, a neurosurgeon, to alert him that I would most likely need surgery. Dr. Malloy just happened to be at this game to watch his daughter perform at half time. Dr. Sonny scrubbed in my surgery, and the two doctors saved my life.”

“That incident led to a close friendship with Dr. Sonny,” Burns added.

“I was a junior in high school, but he has shown compassion and encouragement to me throughout all the years. He has written letters of recommendation for me, and he urged me to follow through on my life-long dream of becoming a doctor. He has checked on me almost every month since that accident way back then. He saved my life on the field that night…I wouldn’t be alive today without him.”

A true “Renaissance man”

Wallace Strickland, Chairman of the Board of Rush Health Systems, was administrator at Rush from 1988-2018. He described Dr. Rush as a true “Renaissance man.”

“He was a great doctor, a devoted family man, a collector of antique cars, and he was one of the most positive individuals I have ever met,” he said.

Strickland remarked on the huge impact the Sports Medicine Team has had on so many athletes.

“Sonny saw the value of the protective helmet; he was a witness to injuries that had or could have occurred,” he said. “His ability to see things so clearly was unbelievable. He has always brought me sound ideas for making a positive impact on our hospital and our community,” he adds.

Shebia Cumberland, Orthopedic Coordinator at Rush since 1997, agreed.

“He impacted each of us in his own special way,” she said. “He always told his patients that the nurse rounding with him was the best nurse, and he had hand-picked them. One day, he joked, ’Now Shebia, when I brag on you to my patients, that is your cue to brag on me.’ He told me he felt like he had four wives – because Karen bossed him around at home, Amanda Whitman bossed him around in surgery, and Jo Wansley bossed him around in the clinic, and I bossed him on 4th floor North. He is the reason I am the Orthopedic Coordinator today.”

Judge Lester Williamson can hardly remember a time when he didn’t know Dr. Rush.

From the early years at Poplar Springs Elementary to their college years, he describes their close friendship.

“We pledged the same fraternity at Ole Miss on the same day; we lived in the same Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, and we raised our kids together. I can tell you Sonny was a loyal and trusted friend. When my wife, Cathy, and I were dating, we went to a Christmas party at Dalewood with 18 or 20 of our friends from Meridian. We quickly realized that not only were we friends with Sonny, his father, Dr. Gus, had actually delivered most of the people at the party,” he laughs.

‘There are a million people he touched’

Virginia Nelson, Dr. Rush’s cousin, remembers him as a friend to everyone he met.

“There are a million people he touched, but I know the Sonny that took us on boat rides at Dalewood and listened to 8 tracks of the Beach Boys and Elton John,” she said. “I know the Sonny who let me sleep on a fold out couch with Twiffy the cat during his med school frugal living days, and the Sonny who showed up for every family event we had, tired or not, he was there. He had the best sense of humor, the most optimistic spirit out there, full of positive advice, and he always made time for you when he really truly didn’t have it. He is a reminder of how we could do so much more for so many more people, all the time,” she explains.

Tyeasha Lindsey recalled seeing Dr. Rush walking his dog, Rambo once as she and her daughter Hazel Belle were also out walking.

“After we chatted, he gave my daughter $10 to buy some ice cream,” she said. “We went straight to Baskin Robbins so she could get her treat. I will always remember his kindness to us that day.”

A family man

Whether interacting with friends, colleagues, patients, or young athletes, Dr. Sonny, above all, was a kind and loving husband, father, and grandfather.

Logan Rush remembers his dad as an important part of their lives. Even with five children, he was able to balance his professional time and his family time.

Logan Rush remembers his dad telling the story of how he met their mom.

“He was a resident at Ochsner, and she was at the hospital working with handicapped children,” he said. “He claims he saw her in a short skirt putting up ornaments on a Christmas tree; she claims she was appropriately dressed. A mutual friend set them up on a date, and they have been together ever since.”

“We watched him, by example, show kindness to everyone he met,” he said. “Whether it was buying a stranger a meal or staying late to see a patient, we knew what a kind man our father was. He final advice to my family was ‘be kind to everyone.’ He lived that every day. He had a special way of making everyone feel important and as if they were part of his own family.”