RIP Bobby Hull

[micropolitan guy]

Norm Van Lier, Chet Walker and Bob Love for the Bulls. They had a pretty good team going for a few years in the 70s under **** Motta, but they got roadblocked behind the Kareem-Oscar Bucks.
For the White Sox of that era, start with ****
Allen and Wilbur Wood.

Hull started with the CBH in 1957. So, Minnie Minoso, Billy Pierce, Gary Peters, Sherm Lollar and Aparicio for the early part of Hull's career.
When the Sabres got a franchise in 1970-71, he was one of the players I had to see, so we got tickets to a Blackhawks game. We saw him next year too, when I had season tickets, but he was gone to the WHA for 72-73.

 

[misterbc]

Bobby Hull was a thing of beauty when he would start one of his thousands of ‘windups’ as broadcast in Canada by Foster or Bill Hewitt or Danny Gallivan. Vasko or Pilote would leave the puck sitting at their feet behind the net and Hull would swoop back on his wing, get possession and start his crossover skating up the ice and NO one got in his way or if they tried they would just bounce off him. Just over the blue line he would let go with his slap shot and as a mask less goalie in that era, save for Plante, you had to be ready to absorb a brutal collision with the puck. Goalies used to shake their catching gloves afterward to relieve the sting. As the curve in his stick increased so the unpredictability of where the shot would hit the goaltender.
It was quite the sight to see him charging up the ice, you were on the edge of your seat (or sofa). I saw him play once in person against the Calgary Cowboys of the WHA but countless times on HNIC and the Blackhawks were always in the playoffs, too.
RIP The Golden Jet.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I was a kid when Hull played for the Black Hawks with Stan Mikita, Doug Mohns, Chico Maki and Glenn Hall. Lloyd Pettit did play-by-play on WGN.

 

[BTExpress]

You have to ask about the Bulls?

I was referring to the pre Jordan era. Sixties and seventies players.

Alrighty then. The obvious answer is Tom Boerwinkle.

Played all 55 minutes in a 3OT win against Mississippi State in 1967.

 

[rtse11]

Please tell me he had a teammate named Rocky.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

I met Hull when he was at the game where Luc Robitaille scored to break Bobby’s record for most goals by a left wing
Brett later scored to pass Phil Esposito on the all time list
Bobby, as I recall, was quite ****faced

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Also, if it wasn’t for the movie Slapshot, Dave Hanson might have been best remembered as the guy who ripped off Bobby Hull’s toupee.

 

[da man]

Alrighty then. The obvious answer is Tom Boerwinkle.

Played all 55 minutes in a 3OT win against Mississippi State in 1967.

When I was a child living in the Atlanta area, my father promised to take my brother and me to Georgia Tech's home game against Tennessee, which was nationally ranked thanks in large part to Boerwinkle. But Dad got called out of town for work, so my mother, who neither knew nor cared anything about basketball, took us instead.

All she wanted was for the game to be over. But the game went to overtime. Then to a second OT. Mom would see the clock go to zero and hear the horn and kept thinking we could leave, but my brother and I shouted, "No! It's overtime!"

Finally, with the game tied in the last seconds of the second OT. Tech was called for a foul (in my hazy little kid memory, it was a technical foul, but I'm not sure if that is actually the case), and Boerwinkle made two free throws to win it for Tennessee. We were bummed, but Mom was so relieved to be able to go home at last.

 

[canucklehead]

Never had the pleasure of interviewing him but was working at a daily in the mid 90s when he was in town for some reason. Colleague who was new to the business got the assignment. Came back and announced that Hull stopped the interview when a general question made reference to his legal problems that resulted from his beating his wives. Colleague also reported that Hull made a racist joke. Can't remember if he wrote a story or not.

 

[nickp]

Without Bobby Hull signing with the WHA, there would be NO

Winnipeg Jets
Edmonton Oilers
Carolina Hurricanes
Colorado Avalanche

 

[rtse11]

When I was a child living in the Atlanta area, my father promised to take my brother and me to Georgia Tech's home game against Tennessee, which was nationally ranked thanks in large part to Boerwinkle. But Dad got called out of town for work, so my mother, who neither knew nor cared anything about basketball, took us instead.

All she wanted was for the game to be over. But the game went to overtime. Then to a second OT. Mom would see the clock go to zero and hear the horn and kept thinking we could leave, but my brother and I shouted, "No! It's overtime!"

Finally, with the game tied in the last seconds of the second OT. Tech was called for a foul (in my hazy little kid memory, it was a technical foul, but I'm not sure if that is actually the case), and Boerwinkle made two free throws to win it for Tennessee. We were bummed, but Mom was so relieved to be able to go home at last.

I found a story about this game!
Tennessee won 71-69 in 2 OTs as Boerwinkle was fouled as time expired by Pete Thorne, and he made both free throws.
Alas, no Rocky on the roster.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Without Bobby Hull signing with the WHA, there would be NO

Winnipeg Jets
Edmonton Oilers
Carolina Hurricanes
Colorado Avalanche

Damn, I thought it was Al Hamilton who legitimized the WHA.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Regardless of his character off the ice, he was a hell of a player. 117 points as a 38-year-old in the WHA in 1978. Interesting to consider how the 1972 Summit Series might have been different if his contract and Bobby Orr's knees had allowed them to play for Canada.

Canada 6, Russia 1, tied 1

 

[Typist Clerk]

I was referring to the pre Jordan era. Sixties and seventies players.

Jerry Sloan. First Bull to have his number (4) retired.

 

[mateen]

 

[matt_garth]

Best piece on Hull I’ve read.

 

[mateen]

It can't have been easy for Brett Hull, once he became prominent in his own right, to have to handle all the questions about his relationship with his dad, which wasn't particularly good (Bobby wasn't even around for much of his childhood). From what I know he never really blasted his dad publicly but he also never pretended it was some kind of idyllic childhood, which it clearly wasn't.

 

[JC]

I met Hull when he was at the game where Luc Robitaille scored to break Bobby’s record for most goals by a left wing
Brett later scored to pass Phil Esposito on the all time list
Bobby, as I recall, was quite ****faced

That was everyday. He whip his junk out?

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[JC]

He denied he ever said that. It was reported by a Russian newspaper. The other half of it, FWIW, was him allegedly saying that the black population in the U.S. was growing too quickly.

I have no memory of Bobby Hull as a player, sadly. He was still active when I was a kid, but the WHA wasn't on my radar screen at all, even after I was really getting into hockey.

He was as awful a human being as he was great on the ice. It is no secret.