In 1960, he organized and promoted a semi-pro Northwestern League consisting of six teams in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska sanctioned under the auspices of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS).
As the president of USA Hockey for nearly two decades, he was responsible for two key achievements: he (alongside Lou Nanne) successfully lobbied for Herb Brooks to coach the Olympic team in the 1980 games (which resulted in a gold medal), and Bush was instrumental in the efforts that brought women's hockey into the Olympic program in 1998.
[citation needed] Bush was vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1996,[2] when he and Kimmo Leinonen led efforts to establish the IIHF Hall of Fame.
[3] From 1996 to 2001, he was the owner and chairman of the board of the American Hockey League's Kentucky Thoroughblades.
He was awarded the Olympic Order in 2002,[4] and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2009.