“Hal was Canada’s Superman,” author Galle Joyce wrote of the Ontario-born athlete, “The Devil and Bobby Hull,” says that allegations of spousal abuse and racism have swayed his public persona. A 2011 book chronicling Mr. Hull’s life before and after he injured
At a time when the NHL had just six teams — Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Montreal, New York and Toronto — Hull was a flamboyant, marketable player who scored many goals and was one of the NHL’s biggest stars.
Hull’s up-ice rush inspired fans, scored over 50 goals during the season, and turned a relatively new shooting style, the slap shot, into an offensive weapon.he was up Sports Illustrated cover It’s unheard of for a hockey player and a nod of mainstream approval to the sport itself.
He passed his skills on to Brett Hull, one of the sons of the Hockey Hall of Fame who scored more goals than his father. Hull’s brother Dennis, nicknamed “Silver Jet,” also played with him for many years in Chicago.
Hull and his teammates in 1961 Stan Mikita Helped end Montreal Canadiens’ record of five consecutive Stanley Cups, then lost Gordy HoweThe Detroit Red Wings gave Chicago their first championship in 23 years, 4-2. The team he did not win another title until 2010.
“At the time, I thought I would have a lot of this.
Mr. Hull packed out NHL arenas during his 15th NHL season in Chicago. He led the league with his seven scoring runs, a record he held for 50 years until 2019 when he was won by Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin.
In 1968, Mr. Hull felt his popularity wasn’t worth the payoff and protested by retiring to make more money. The Blackhawks called his bluff and with no better options, Mr. Hull returned to the team on a prorated paycheck. He was fined and had to publicly apologize for missing part of the season.
This was the beginning of the end for Mr. Hull of Chicago, but it was also the beginning of an era when superstar athletes made millions of dollars.
“Now the name of the game is money,” Hull said. sports illustrated In 1972 he negotiated with the fledgling hockey league, the World Hockey Association, and got what he wanted.
With much fanfare, including a large cardboard check, Hull signed as a player and coach with the Winnipeg Jets over 10 years for $1.75 million and a $1 million signing bonus. Other NHL players such as Howe also fled to the WHA.
At the WHA, Hull won championships and titles, but that success came at a great price. Team He Canada did not allow non NHL players to participate in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union.
“I wanted to play more than anything else, but the big names in the NHL decided to return the favor to me.” Hull later told the Associated PressThe rules were soon changed to allow Hull to compete in the 1974 Summit Series. (The Soviets won his 4-1-3.)
Later in his career, after the NHL acquired the WHA, Hull was traded to the Hartford Whalers and briefly played with Howe.
Unlike other stars of the time who remained involved in hockey after quitting skating, Hull was a de facto castoff and had a strained relationship with the Blackhawks over a salary dispute. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in his 1983 year, but he spent his days away from the sport. agriculture and cattle breeding in Ontario.
Robert Marvin Hull Jr. was born on January 3, 1939 in Port Ann, Ontario. His father, a cement company foreman and farmer, encouraged his sons to play hockey.
While playing soccer at St. Catharines High School, Mr. Hull played hockey for the St. Catherines Teepees, a team of the Junior Ontario Hockey Association, Canada’s premier amateur league. Showing exemplary skills on the ice at an early age, Mr. Hull dropped out of high school and signed with the Blackhawks.
Hull has been a hockey favourite for years, signing autographs and doing charity work hours after games. But the off-ice incident painted a bleak picture for the one-time winner of the Lady Bing Trophy, the NHL’s award given for “gentlemanly conduct.”
He has been married at least three times and two wives have accused him of physical abuse.Some of his children said he was an absentee father and drank too much, in 1987 he pleaded guilty after a domestic dispute with his wife Deborah assault on a police officer who was called to the scene. He was fined his $150 and he was given six months of judicial supervision.
He allegedly lashed out in 1998 in a Russian newspaper About Adolf Hitler having some “good ideas”. In the same interview, when asked if he was racist, Hull was quoted as saying: I am not running for any political office. ”
Hull later claimed that a Moscow Times reporter misquoted him.
“I am deeply offended by the false statements that have been attributed to me regarding Adolf Hitler and the black community in America,” he said in a statement. He reportedly filed a lawsuit against the Moscow Times, which backed the report, and the Toronto Sun, which reprinted the interview. Tim Danson said.
In 2002, ESPN aired a “Sports Century” profile documenting these incidents and domestic abuse allegations. Figure skater Joan McKay, one of his ex-wives and the mother of her five children, including Brett, said Mr. Hull had hit her with a steel-heeled shoe. accused of being.
His daughter Michelle Hull became a lawyer who deals with abused women. She chose the career after witnessing Mr. Hull deal with her mother, Joan, she said.
Nevertheless, the Blackhawks recalled the two-time NHL MVP in 2007, made him a team ambassador, and installed a life-size bronze statue of him and Mikita outside the United Center where the Blackhawks play. The Blackhawks changed the spelling of the team name to Blackhawks in 1986.)
“If I had to start over, I’d probably drink more,” Hull joked in the book.When the final buzzer goes off: NHL greats tell stories of triumph and triumphwas published in 2000.
He added: Write it! Again, thinking can get you into trouble more than anything else. ”
