Steve began providing school transportation service for the school district in Kirkwood, Missouri, in September of 1975 with a fleet of 18 buses. At the same time, he began representing the Blue Bird Body Company as their distributor for northeastern Missouri. Howard Revelle joined the organization shortly after its inception, and Gary Deeken joined as a school bus salesman and assistant contract manager in August of 1977. The two companies grew at a phenomenal rate in the early 1980s, doubling in size in several successive years. Rustman Bus Company was awarded contracts with the Lindbergh, Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Jefferson City, Sedalia, Francis Howell, Ft. Zumwalt, and Kansas City School Districts, to name a few in Missouri, plus other contracts in Illinois and Kansas.

In 1980, Rustman Bus Sales was awarded additional Blue Bird sales territory that included most of Missouri and the Southern half of Illinois; and it began representing ElDorado National as one of its original distributors. Rustman Bus Company moved into new headquarters on Page Service Drive, Howard Revelle was named Vice President/General Manager of the contracting company, and Gary Deeken was named Sales Manager of the bus sales company. In 1982, Inc. Magazine recognized this organization as the 50th fastest-growing privately-held company in the United States. By 1985, after just ten years in business, the contracted fleet had grown to over 1,200 buses; and the sales organization signed distribution agreements with several other bus and wheelchair lift manufacturers.

Steve was contacted by Ryder Systems, Inc., in 1985. They had targeted the school transportation industry as an area that might provide growth for their organization, as well as balance the seasonal income of their truck rental business. They made him an offer and, upon completion of the sale, Rustman Bus Company's fleet of 1,200 buses became the first acquisition for what would become Ryder Student Transportation, today known as First Student.

With the sale of the contracting company, Rustman Bus Sales became a stand-alone corporation. Since Ryder purchased the right to use the name "Rustman," the company's name was changed to Central States Bus Sales, Inc.; and a new sales and service facility was built on Cassens Drive in Fenton (St. Louis County), Missouri. Steve continued to own Central States Bus Sales, Inc., but entered into a stock purchase agreement with Gary Deeken. This agreement allowed Gary to purchase all of the stock over a specified period of time. By 1992, Gary Deeken completed the purchase of Steve Rustman's stock in Central States Bus Sales, Inc.

At the time Gary Deeken purchased Central States Bus Sales, Inc., there were twelve full-time employees working out of a 5,000 sq. ft. building. In 1994, a 3,000 sq. ft. building addition was completed that included one additional service bay, expanded parts warehouse, and additional office space.  In 1997 Blue Bird approached Gary Deeken about additional sales territory for the rest of Missouri and the state of Arkansas. This was an excellent opportunity for growth and offered many managerial synergies. Jeff Reitz moved to Arkansas and established a sales and service facility in Sherwood, a suburb of Little Rock, in a leased facility.

At the same time, the St. Louis operation was bursting at the seams. The conference room and half of the cafeteria had been converted to much-needed office space. In 1998, a 6,000 sq. ft. building addition was completed that added two additional service bays, parts warehouse, and office space. By 2000, the lease on the Arkansas facility had expired; so an 8,000 sq. ft. sales and service facility was built in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

With the significant growth came the need to clearly define management responsibilities. In 1999, Tim Fitzgerald joined the company as its Controller; Joe Deeken relinquished his service responsibilities to focus solely on parts sales, and Kent Pascoe was employed as the Customer Service Manager. In 2001, Jeff Reitz moved back to the headquarters in Fenton, Missouri, to take over the position of Director, Bus Sales; and Mike Wingerter was promoted to the position of General Manager of Arkansas Operations.

2003 brought many management and ownership issues within the Blue Bird organization. Though they have since been satisfactorily resolved, the situations created some opportunities within the Blue Bird Distributor network. In 2004, Central States used these events to acquire additional Blue Bird sales territory for the states of Tennessee and Kentucky and expand the sales territory further north. The addition of these areas required that a new 10,000 sq ft. sales and service facility be built in Lebanon, Tennessee, and that several additional people be hired to represent us to those customers. To supervise and manage these many changes, Jeff Reitz was promoted to Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Kelly Lee was named General Manager of Tennessee Operations, and Doug Donaldson was named General Manager of Northern Illinois Operations. In May 2006, Central States acquired the assets and parts inventory of Heartland Bus Sales, Inc., making Central States the Blue Bird distributor for the entire State of Illinois and Blue Bird's largest distributor.

Today, Central States operates out of its 14,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Fenton, Missouri, the 8,000 sq. ft. facility in Arkansas, and the new 10,000 sq. ft. facility in Tennessee. A fourth sales and service facility has recently been established in Big Rock, Illinois, to serve the Northern Illinois market.  Having now been a Blue Bird distributor for more than 30 years, and an ElDorado distributor for more than 25 years, it is our hope and plan that many more paragraphs detailing the history of this organization will be added in the years to come.