By: Matt Emma
For most of his life, William Russell Poole III, known to nearly everyone as Rusty, has worked in the same corner of the country, helping the people of Upstate South Carolina with real estate, insurance, and investments. He has lived in Gaffney since 1956, became a homeowner in 1975, and is a familiar face in the community. His career spans fifty years, which is a long time to do anything, let alone stay in one place doing work that depends so heavily on trust.
Rusty calls himself “Your Key to Action,” and the phrase fits a man who has spent decades quietly solving problems for clients who often believed their problems could not be solved. He is a 1968 graduate of Gaffney High School and a 1972 graduate of Clemson University. Over the years, he has earned recognition that includes being named ERA National Franchise Salesperson of the Year in 1987 and being honored as MLS Salesperson and Firm of the Year by the Cherokee County Board of Realtors. But the awards, while real, are not the part of the story he tends to lead with. What he leads with is people, and the long relationships he has built one closing at a time.
A Simple Way of Talking About Hard Things
Buying or selling a home can feel overwhelming, full of paperwork and terms that most people never use in daily life. Rusty has built his reputation on cutting through that. He believes the work comes down to clear conversation. “I can communicate with customers and clients with simple but knowledgeable conversations to make the home buying and home selling process understandable,” he explained. His clients often tell him the same thing in their own words: that Rusty was the one who finally made the process make sense to them. That kind of feedback has followed him for decades.
The Clients Who Thought It Was Impossible
What seems to matter most to Rusty is the cases where the answer should have been no. He talks about one client he had known for years, someone who had been renting an apartment and never expected to own a home. It took about a year to reach closing, and when the day came, she cried and hugged him. She had not believed it was possible. Her comment was, “Rusty, you made my dream come true thanks to you.” He tells another story about a retired widow who had moved out of her home. He reached out to her, and through some creative financing, they reached a closing about a year later. She told him he had given her back her “dignity”. These are not small wins to him. They are the reason he has stayed in the work.
Reputation Built One Closing at a Time
Over fifty years, reputation becomes its own kind of currency. Rusty says people call him because they already know what to expect. “Numerous customers call me because they
know I am straightforward, simple, and honest; they feel comfortable with my approach,” he said. The proof shows up in unexpected ways. Sometimes someone will stop him to say that he helped their parents find a home forty years ago, when they were just children, and now they want him to help them too. That kind of continuity is rare, and it speaks to a career built on showing up the same way every time.
An Innovator Ahead of His Time
Rusty has also long been an innovator. His firm, Rusty Poole Realty, was the first real estate company in Cherokee County to use a National Listing System, using a fax machine in 1976 to display listings nationwide, along with a home warranty program and a guaranteed sale option that same year. In 1992, through his association with Color-Net, his members in the Upstate were the first in their market to print a color “home” brochure and to show homes in color nationwide on a computer. This came before REALTOR.com and the widespread use of Internet marketing.
Recent Recognition and a Major Milestone
The past few years have brought new markers in a long career. Rusty is the 2026 MLS President of the Cherokee County Board of Realtors. In 2025, he received the Mathers Realty Pinnacle Award for turning houses into homes, an award that arrived the same year Mathers Realty celebrated forty years in business, and Rusty reached fifty years of service. In 2022, he led his team to the Mathers Realty Purple Monkeys production award. He was also selected by a nationwide company to serve as their agent, finding properties in Upstate South Carolina, a quiet but meaningful vote of confidence.
A Life Rooted in One Community
Beyond the sales and the awards, Rusty has stayed involved in where he lives. He served as a Council Member at Buford Street United Methodist Church from 2020 to 2023, and he is a past President of Gaffney Toastmasters and a past Vice President of the Gaffney Jaycees. Prior to his real estate career, he was, in 1972, an intern for US Senator Strom Thurmond and was selected in 1973 for the “Outstanding Young Men of America” publication.
After fifty years, the through line of Rusty’s work is steady and plain. He listens, he explains, and he keeps his word. For the people of Upstate South Carolina, that has been enough to trust him with one of the biggest decisions of their lives, sometimes across generations of the same family.
