Robert Marvin Hull was born on January 3, 1939 in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, about halfway between Toronto and Ottawa. (Not to be confused with Belleville, New Jersey, although there is also a town named Bloomfield, and another named Trenton, nearby.) He had a brother, Dennis Hull, who would later join him on the Chicago Black Hawks. After Bobby's son, Brett Hull, also became an NHL superstar, Dennis wrote a memoir titled The Third Best Hull: I Should Have Been Fourth, But They Wouldn't Let My Sister Maxine Play.
Before I go any further, let me point this out: The Chicago NHL team, since its founding in 1926, had always had its name written as two words: "Black Hawks." But in 1986, someone went through the team's records, and found their original NHL charter, which had the name listed as a single word, "Blackhawks." The team notified the NHL, and so, officially, they have been the "Chicago Blackhawks" ever since. But in Hull's era, they were the "Chicago Black Hawks."
The team's founding owner, Chicago coffee tycoon Frederic McLaughlin, had commanded the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the U.S. Army's 86th Infantry Division during World War I. Since it was based in Illinois, it was called the Blackhawk Division, after Black Hawk, a chief of the Sauk tribe in Illinois in the early 19th Century.
In 1955, Bobby Hull led the Woodstock Warriors to the Sutherland Cup, the amateur hockey championship of the Province of Ontario. In 1957, he was signed by the Black Hawks, and, that season, finished 2nd to Frank Mahovlich of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Calder Memorial Trophy, the NHL's Rookie of the Year award.
In 1960, he made the 1st of his 12 NHL All-Star Games, and won the 1st of his 3 Art Ross Trophies as the NHL's leading scorer. In 1961, after years of struggling, the Hawks won the Stanley Cup, with a team featuring 4 future Hall-of-Famers: Hull at left wing, Stan Mikita at center, Pierre Pilote on defense, and Glenn Hall in goal.
Hull (left) and Jack Evans with the 1961 Stanley Cup
Hull had worn Number 16 up to that point. For the next 2 seasons, he wore Number 7. From 1963 onward, he wore Number 9, like many other great scorers before him, including the recently-retired Maurice "the Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens, and the man then regarded as the best player in the game, Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings.
Hull won the Ross Trophy again in 1962, scoring 50 goals, joining Richard and another Canadien, Bernie "Boom-Boom" Geoffrion, as the only players ever to do this. Geoffrion has been credited as the inventor of the slap shot, but Hull made it an art form, especially after curving the blade of his stick, in what became known as "the banana blade." This would be outlawed later in his career.
Despite his 50 goals in 1961-62, the Hawks couldn't make it back-to-back Cups, losing in the Finals to Mahovlich and the Leafs. In 1965, Hull won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player, and the Lady Byng Trophy as its "most gentlemanly player."
On March 12, 1966, Hull became the 1st NHL player to score more than 50 goals in a season, sending his 51st past Cesare Maniago of the New York Rangers at Chicago Stadium. He topped out at 54, and his 43 assists gave him 97 points on the season, breaking the record of 96 set by the Canadiens' Dickie Moore in 1959. He again won the Hart Trophy and the Ross Trophy.
The 51st goal. Note the curve on the stick blade.
By this point, he had surpassed Howe, as the most popular player in America. He was the fastest skater in the League, timed at 29 miles per hour, and this speed, combined with his long, flowing blond hair, earned him the nickname "the Golden Jet." His brother Dennis joined the Hawks in 1964, wearing Number 10, and, as the 2nd-best brother became known as "the Silver Jet." Bobby also had the fastest-measured shot in hockey: 118 MPH.
In 1969, he set new personal bests with 58 goals and 107 points, but Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins, a former Chicago teammate, shattered both records with 76 goals and 152 points. Still, the NHL awarded Hull the Lester Patrick Trophy, for contributions to hockey in America. He was only 30 years old.
On February 21, 1970, he blasted a shot past Eddie Giacomin of the New York Rangers, for his 500th career goal. Only Richard and Howe had reached the milestone before him. In a 1988 interview, Giacomin said that Hull’s slap shot "would rise or dip. You'd pull up when you should really be ducking. It played games with your mind."
But there was trouble on the horizon. His thinning hair, which eventually led to one of the most famous toupees in sports -- perhaps 2nd only to that of ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell -- soon became the least of his worries. And in the 1970 off-season, the NHL banned the banana blade, which cut down on his shooting ability. Still, he helped the Hawks reach the Stanley Cup Finals again in 1971, losing to the Canadiens.
In spite of all he had achieved, he was underpaid. So was every Black Hawk, even though the team's owner, William Wadsworth Wirtz, was filthy rich. Some of his wealth came from his family. But where he was really making money was as the owner of the traveling Holiday On Ice and Ice Follies shows.
Bill Wirtz was known as Dollar Bill, because he was cheap. He was also behind the times: He wouldn't let Black Hawks home games be televised, unless they were picked up by national broadcasters, which usually only happened for the Playoffs. He said broadcasting regular-season home games was unfair to season-ticket holders. He didn't realize that he could add to his fortune with the TV revenue.
In 1972, the World Hockey Association was founded. They wanted a big star to get fans and income. They asked Hull to jump the NHL and join them. He said he would -- for $1 million. (About $7.1 million in 2023 money.) He was joking.
They weren't: Ben Hatskin, majority owner of the WHA's Winnipeg franchise, who made his fortune in lumber and jukebox rentals, offered him a $1 million signing bonus, a contract worth $1.75 million over 10 years, the head coach's job, and a small share of ownership. Hatskin was even willing to name the team after him, sort of: The Winnipeg Jets. To borrow a line from the year's biggest film, The Godfather, it was an offer he couldn't refuse.
Hull signed with the Jets. The NHL sued to stop it, and the litigation prevented him from opening the season with them. In addition, because he had "defected" to the WHA, he was not permitted to play on the all-NHL "Team Canada" that would face the Soviet team in the "Summit Series." Dennis was selected, but threatened to boycott the team for keeping Bobby off. Bobby told him he should play anyway. Without Bobby Hull, and without Bobby Orr, who was injured, it took Canada the full 8 games beat the Soviets. To this day, aside from being the Golden Jet's brother, being a member of 1972 Team Canada is what Dennis Hull is best known for.
The Jets debuted on October 12, 1972, beating the New York Raiders, 6-4 at Madison Square Garden. On October 15, they played their 1st home game, losing 5-2 to the Alberta Oilers at the Winnipeg Arena. (After the 1st season, the Oilers switched from their Province's name to their City's name, becoming the Edmonton Oilers.)
Hull was finally able to join them on November 8, a 3-2 loss to the Quebec Nordiques at the Colisée de Québec. In spite of the late start, he was able to feast on the lesser assemblage of talent in the "rebel league," and also to take advantage of the fact that they allowed the banana blade, to score 51 goals, winning the Gary Davidson Trophy as the league's 1st Most Valuable Player. (Davidson was the league's founder, as he was for the ABA and the WFL.)
With Hull, the Jets reached the WHA Finals, but lost to the New England Whalers, then based in Boston. Without him, but with Mikita and goaltender Tony Esposito (Phil's brother), the Black Hawks reached the Stanley Cup Finals, again losing to the Canadiens. If Wirtz had paid Hull what he was worth, who knows?
After Howe joined the Houston Aeros and won the MVP for 1973-74, the award was renamed the Gordie Howe Trophy. Hull won it in 1975, then resigned as head coach after 3 seasons. The Jets beat the NHL to the idea of signing players from Sweden, signing Andres Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Lars-Erik Sjöberg. Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson formed "The Hot Line." The Jets won the WHA title 3 times: In 1976, 1978 and 1979. The other teams combined only won 4 titles. Hull made the All-Star Game in 5 of the league's 7 seasons.
In 1979, the Jets, the Oilers, the Nordiques and the Whalers were invited to join the NHL. By that point, Howe and his sons Mark and Marty had been sold by the bankrupt Aeros to the Whalers. The Whalers traded for Hull and former Maple Leafs star Dave Keon. With Howe already wearing Number 9 for the team, renamed the Hartford Whalers, he went back to his old Number 16. After the season, both Hull and Howe retired.
Bobby Hull (left) and Gordie Howe
The 8 goals Hull scored for the Jets and the Whalers in 1979-80 gave him 610 in NHL play. He scored another 303 in the WHA -- which matched the NHL total of his brother Dennis, who ended his career in 1978, with the Red Wings. In total, Bobby had 914 major league goals. Both the 610 and the 914 were then 2nd all-time to Howe.
Mikita retired in 1980. The Black Hawks made his Number 21 the 1st uniform number they retired. In 1973, they gave Number 9 to Dale Tallon, whom they'd acquired from the Vancouver Canucks, for whom he'd worn the number for 2 years. Tallon, a decent player who was one of the last players cut for the Summit Series, objected: "They forgot to add the decimal point." He played the 1st preseason exhibition game wearing 9, and the fans booed -- directed at team management more than at Tallon himself -- every time he touched the puck. The next game, he switched to 19, and spent 5 years mainly getting cheered in Chicago.
In 1983, Hull was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He and Wirtz finally made peace, and on December 18 of that year, his Number 9 was rightfully retired. The Jets also retired his Number 9. In 2011, statues of Hull and Mikita were placed outside the Blackhawks' new arena, the United Center.
Hull was also elected to the Ontario and Manitoba Sports Halls of Fame, and the WHA Hall of Fame. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him 8th, the highest-ranking left wing, on their list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
He married 3 times, and 2 of his wives alleged that he had assaulted them. His 3rd wife initially pressed charges, then dropped them. His daughter, Michelle Hull, was a champion figure skater as a child, but a knee injury led her to study law instead. As a result of how her father treated her mother, his 1st wife, she works with battered women.
Bobby had 4 sons. Bobby Hull Jr. won the Memorial Cup, the championship of junior hockey's Canadian Hockey League, with the 1980 Cornwall Royals. Bobby Jr. and Blake Hull won the Allan Cup, the championship of Canadian senior amateur hockey, in 1987 with the Brantford Mott's Clamatos. Bart Hull played college football at Boise State University, and played with the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Rough Riders and Saskatchewan Roughriders. (Yes, both teams had almost the same name.)
Most notably, Bobby's son Brett Hull joined him as the only father & son pair to both score 50 goals in a season, the only such pair to both score more than 600 (or even 400) goals in a career, the only such pair to win the Hart Trophy, the only such pair to win the Ross Trophy, and the only such pair to win the Lady Byng Trophy. And while there are a few father & son pairs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, including Bobby and Brett, they were the only such pair to both be named, in 2017, to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players.
After starring for years with the St. Louis Blues, Brett won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars (scoring the Cup-winning goal in controversial fashion) and in 2002 with the Red Wings. So "The Golden Brett" not only scored more goals in NHL play than his father, 741, but won more Cups, 2 to 1.
The Blues retired Brett's Number 16. In 1996, new owners moved the Jets to the Phoenix area, where they are now named the Arizona Coyotes. Toward the end of his career, they acquired Brett, and Bobby gave permission for his Number 9 to be unretired for him. In 1999, the Atlanta Thrashers entered the NHL as an expansion team, but in 2011, they moved to become the new Winnipeg Jets. They have honored the old Jets' retired numbers, although Evander Kane asked Bobby for permission to wear Number 9, and got it.
In 2007, Bill Wirtz died. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup since 1961, hadn't been to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1992, or even to the Conference Finals since 1995. Because of their owner's cheapness, they didn't even have a TV contract.
Mahovlich made a point that was indicative of the Hawks' struggles: He had won the Cup at Chicago Stadium 3 times, clinching there with the Leafs in 1962 and with the Canadiens in 1971 and 1973; while Hull had never clinched at home, since their 1961 win had been clinched in Detroit. (The Hawks had clinched at home in 1934, against Detroit; and in 1938, away to Toronto.)
I don't want to say that it's a good thing when anyone dies, but the death of Bill Wirtz was the best thing that could have happened to the Blackhawks. His son, William Rockwell "Rocky" Wirtz became the owner, and followed a George Costanza-style "do the opposite" philosophy. He put the Hawks back on TV, fixed the team's scouting system, and made peace with former stars, including Hull.
He said, "When I assumed leadership of the organization upon my father's passing in 2007, one of my first priorities was to meet with Bobby to convince him to come back as an ambassador of the team. His connection to our fans was special and irreplaceable." The Hawks won the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015, and Bobby was part of the celebrations all 3 times.
In 2019, the NHL Winter Classic was played at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, between the Blues and the Blackhawks. Although the Blackhawks consider the Red Wings to be their historic arch-rivals, the Blues, in Missouri but across the Mississippi River from Illinois, consider their arch-rivals to be the Blackhawks. For this game, Bobby, representing Chicago, and Brett, representing St. Louis, were named honorary captains, and participated in the ceremonial opening face-off.
Left to right: Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Towes, Bobby Hull,
Brett Hull, Blues Captain Alex Pietrangelo
Bobby Hull died on January 30, 2023, at his home in Wheaton, Illinois, outside Chicago -- also the hometown of another Chicago sports legend, Bears pioneer Red Grange. He was 84 years old.
Yes, I know, he was a domestic abuser, an egomaniac, left the NHL when they really needed him against the Soviets. But he still gave hockey fans a lot of great memories, not to mention a son who actually scored more goals in NHL play than he did.
With his death, there are now 3 surviving players from the 1961 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Black Hawks: Glenn Hall, Bill Hay and Wayne Hicks.
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