Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 12, 1945 – June 11, 2015) was born on October 12, 1945, in Austin, Texas. Rhodes was considered a star wrestler and presented the persona of an American everyman, the American Dream personified.

After graduating from Albert Sidney Johnston High School in Austin, Rhodes played baseball and football at West Texas State (now known as West Texas A&M University). Turning professional, Rhodes tried out for the American Football League's Boston Patriots, but was cut. He then played for the Hartford Charter Oaks in the Continental Football League until the team folded.

In 1967, Rhodes saw an advertisement in the newspaper for Tony Santos' professional wrestling promotion Big Time Wrestling, based in Boston. Rhodes drove to Boston, and despite not having any wrestling experience, bluffed his way into working for the company by using his real life friendships with Bobby Duncum and the Funk brothers. Billed as Dusty Runnels, one of his first matches was for the BTW World Heavyweight title against champion Frank Scarpa in the Boston Arena. Having little money, Rhodes slept in his car and spent Thanksgiving with Rufus R. Jones in a Boston soup kitchen.

Rhodes moved on to Fritz Von Erich's Texas territory World Class Championship Wrestling in 1968, at that time also called Big Time Wrestling. It was in Texas where Rhodes first adopted the ring name "Dusty Rhodes". Gary Hart took an immediate liking to Rhodes and convinced Von Erich of the young wrestler's potential. Rhodes became a rule-breaking heel with Hart as his manager, teaming with Don Jardine, better known as The Spoiler.

In 1968, Rhodes left Texas and entered the Kansas City territory, tagging with fellow Texan Dick Murdoch to form the tag team The Texas Outlaws.

Rhodes did not have a typical wrestlers' physique, but he was well known for his personality, charisma and interviews. In 1974, Rhodes's character became a hero after tag team partner Pak Song and manager Gary Hart turned on him during a match in Florida against Eddie and Mike Graham. This led him to break out as a solo wrestler, primarily in Florida, referring to himself as the "American Dream", a working class hero, and aligning himself with Eddie Graham.

In 1977, Rhodes wrestled for Vince McMahon, Sr.'s World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) on and off for lengthy periods of time until 1983. During that time, Rhodes main-evented twice in Madison Square Garden, both times challenging for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship against reigning champion Superstar Billy Graham. Rhodes won the first match on September 26 via countout, and lost the second, a Texas Death match, on October 24. Graham won after a mid-ring collision, falling on Rhodes for the three count.

He eventually began working as a booker and wrestler with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in the Mid-Atlantic, which eventually purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW), formerly Georgia Championship Wrestling. Rhodes also teamed with Magnum T. A. as "America's Team", who opposed the Four Horsemen and The Russian Team in 1985. They were one of the more dominant tag teams in the promotion until 1986, when Magnum's career was ended in a car accident. Subsequently, he teamed with Nikita Koloff as The Super Powers.

During a taping which took place The Omni on September 29, 1985, Rhodes would save Flair from a beatdown at hands of Ivan and Nikitia Koloff and Krusher Krushchev, only for Flair to then turn on Rhodes and have Ole and Arn Anderson assist him in breaking Rhodes' ankle; this also forced Rhodes to vacate his NWA Television Championship. In October 1985, during his feud with Flair, Rhodes gave an interview that became known as his "Hard Times" promo, arguably his most popular promo. The promo apparently resonated with wrestling fans so much that people came to him in arenas in tears to thank him for "honoring their plight".

Also in the late 1980s, Rhodes became synonymous with what would become known as the "Dusty finish", a trick ending in which a wrestler would win a match while the referee was knocked out, and the decision would be overturned.

Rhodes is often considered to be one of the most innovative and creative bookers in the history of professional wrestling. As previously mentioned, his work in the development of "supercards" and gimmick matches did much to enhance the quality of entertainment and move the industry forward, as evident by other major promotions following with their own major cards and gimmicks. At the same time, however, he and JCP had an "old school" philosophy that did not bode well with the changes that were brought with fast moving media such as cable TV, etc. The long-standing storylines and the frequent use of the aforementioned "Dusty finish", techniques that had worked well during the NWA's territorial days, had now started to leave many fans dissatisfied with the promotion's booking.

Rhodes was fired after Starrcade '88, because of a taboo on-screen bloodletting (laid down by the Turner Broadcasting System following their purchase of the company) during a November 26 altercation with The Road Warriors. Furious with the interference, Rhodes booked a storyline in which Road Warrior Animal pulled a spike out of his shoulder pad and jammed it in Rhodes' eye, causing a severe laceration. Rhodes was then fired from WCW.

Meanwhile, in late 1988 during the acquisition of Jim Crockett Promotions the duo of Mike Graham and Steve Keirn were attempting to revive the dormant CWF Championship Wrestling from Florida territory. Once Dusty departed from WCW they reached out to him, and ultimately partnered to launch the new Professional Wrestling Federation in February 1989.

Dusty Rhodes made his debut for the company on March 4, 1989, at an event in Titusville, Florida, when he teamed with Steve Keirn to defeat the duo of The Big Steel Man and Dick Slater. A week later at the PWF Homecoming event in Tampa, Florida, he pinned Big Steel Man to become the first PWF Heavyweight Champion. Later that spring as the PWF began to grow Rhodes received a surprise backstage visit from Bobby Heenan, who inquired on the state of the company's business. Shortly thereafter Vince McMahon reached out to Rhodes and made an offer to acquire the PWF as a developmental territory and to bring Rhodes into the WWF. He refused, as his desire was to grow the territory into a national brand that could compete with WCW and the WWF. However the Professional Wrestling Federation's backers did not have a desire to fund the company at a level necessary to enhance the territory further. In May he decided to part ways with the PWF and join the World Wrestling Federation as a wrestler. Before departing, Rhodes was defeated by The Big Steel Man on May 13, 1989, for the PWF title at an event in Sarasota, Florida.

Nine days after his final PWF match, Dusty Rhodes made his untelevised debut at a house show on May 29 in Montreal, Quebec. Substituting for Jake Roberts, he defeated Ted DiBiase. Promotional vignettes began airing, the first coming on the June 3rd edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling with Rhodes appearing as the yellow polka-dotted "Common Man" Dusty Rhodes, a gimmick some felt was intended to humiliate him due to his synonymy with the rival JCP/WCW. Rhodes was introduced to WWF audiences through a series of vignettes in which he would gregariously and enthusiastically perform working class roles (including that of a plumber, butcher's apprentice, gas station attendant, taco cook, trash collector and pizza delivery man), eventually being recognized by others at the end of the skit ("Hey! Aren't you...?").

Rhodes made his televised appearance on the July 22 edition of WWF Superstars; following a match between Big Boss Man and Jim McPherson he intervened to prevent Boss Man from using his nightstick against the defeated opponent. Rhodes made his in-ring debut on the August 13th edition of Wrestling Challenge when he pinned Greg Valentine after his opponent was distracted by Ronnie Garvin. At SummerSlam 89 he appeared on his first-ever WWF PPV, defeating The Honky Tonk Man.

In October a Rhodes fan, Sapphire, began to be featured at ringside during his televised matches. Rhodes would eventually invite the woman to come in the ring and dance with her after a victory. She would become his manager and was named "Sapphire". As Dusty represented "The Common Man", she was intended to represent the "common woman".

He became embroiled in a heated storyline with "Macho King" Randy Savage and his manager/partner Sensational Queen Sherri, who in turn found a rival in Sapphire. Rhodes began facing the former WWF World Champion on the house show circuit. As with Boss Man he was victorious in every encounter, although each would come by countout. On the March 25, 1990 episode of WWF Superstars he finally faced Savage in a televised encounter; Rhodes won via disqualification after Queen Sherri interfered. After a confrontation between the two couples, Savage's ex-manager Miss Elizabeth allied herself with Rhodes and Sapphire and was instrumental in helping them win the WWF's first mixed tag-team match during WrestleMania VI.

Later that summer Sapphire began to receive gifts from an unnamed benefactor during Dusty's televised matches. At SummerSlam Sapphire no-showed her scheduled match with Queen Sherri. Later that night Dusty was scheduled to face Randy Savage in a one-on-one encounter; prior to the match Ted DiBiase announced that Sapphire had left Rhodes for The Million Dollar Man's money. Distracted and distraught, Rhodes was pinned by Savage.

Dusty immediately transitioned to a feud with The Million Dollar Man. Unlike his previous series with Boss Man and Savage, this time Rhodes would come out on the losing end. He lost numerous house show matches after Virgil interfered on the behalf of DiBiase. That fall his son Dustin Rhodes began making televised appearances within the WWF; on the October 13 edition of WWF Superstars Dusty lost to Randy Savage by countout after being distracted by DiBiase attacking Dustin. Afterwards, Rhodes dropped the polka dot attire and adopted his traditional, Jim Crockett-esque attire.

Around this time in the fall Dusty Rhodes received an offer to return to World Championship Wrestling as its head booker. He now began to lose regularly, falling again in defeat to Ted DiBiase in house shows during December 1990 but also losing to Rick Martel, Virgil, and new top heel Sgt. Slaughter. Some of the losses were under 1 minute as the WWF leveraged Rhodes departure. On December 28, 1990, he teamed with Jim Duggan to face Slaughter and General Adnan at Madison Square Garden. The match, which would be televised on Prime Time Wrestling on January 7, 1991, ended when Rhodes submitted to Slaughter. The conclusion to the feud with DiBiase came at 1991 Royal Rumble, where Dusty teamed with his son Dustin against Virgil and DiBiase. The Rhodes Family was defeated in a match that saw Virgil turn face afterwards. This would mark the end of Dusty Rhodes' career as a full-time in-ring competitor.

Rhodes returned to WCW in 1991 as a member of WCW's booking committee, making his first appearance only 11 days after his last WWF appearance at the Royal Rumble. On the May 25 edition of World Championship Wrestling he launched an interview segment called "The Bull Drop Inn". Booking disagreements between Rhodes and Ric Flair led to the latter's departure to the WWF and the Big Gold Belt controversy.

Dusty Rhodes made his return to the ring after nearly a one-year absence on January 4, 1992, at the WCW/New Japan Supershow II. Teaming with his son Dustin Rhodes once more, the duo defeated Kim Duk and Masa Saito in Tokyo, Japan.

He left WCW in 2000 and went to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

On the WCW Greed PPV on March 18, 2001, he entered a WCW ring for the final time, teaming with Dustin Rhodes to defeat Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett.

After both WCW and ECW were bought by WWE (WWF), Rhodes went to compete in his own promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling with ex-WCW and ECW superstars in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.

Rhodes began appearing with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2003.

In September 2005, Rhodes signed a WWE Legends deal and was brought onto the Creative Team as a creative consultant.

Rhodes was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2007, by his two sons, Dustin and Cody.

A few weeks before WWE's 2007 broadcast of The Great American Bash, Rhodes returned to WWE television to feud with Randy Orton. At The Great American Bash, Orton defeated Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope match after hitting Rhodes with a cowbell. This would be Runnels' final WWE match, officially retiring for the first time soon after at age 61.

On July 9, 2010, Rhodes briefly came out of retirement and wrestled the final match of his career at an FCW live event, where he teamed up with Cody and Goldust to defeat the team of Caylen Croft, Curt Hawkins, and Trent Barreta in a 6-man tag team match. He would again retire shortly after.

Rhodes also appeared at Battleground in the corner of Cody and Goldust as they took on The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns with Dean Ambrose at ringside) in a tag team match. The stipulation of the match would be that if the Rhodes Family won, Cody and Goldust got their jobs with the company back, but if they lose Dusty would be fired as an NXT trainer and none of them could appear on WWE programming ever again. The Rhodes brothers won the match, thus reinstating them to the roster and allowing Dusty to retain his position in NXT. During the match, Dusty got into an altercation with Ambrose and performed the Bionic Elbow on him.

On June 10, 2015, paramedics responded to Rhodes' home in Orlando, Florida, after getting a call reporting that he had fallen. They drove him to a nearby hospital, where he died the next day at the age of 69 from the effects of kidney failure.

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