R.I.P Bobby Hull

[brian1961]

My mind's been in a fog all day since I saw the headline that Bobby had died. I am so upset. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. It was spring, 1965, and my friend invited me to go see the Chicago Black Hawks at the old Chicago Stadium. I had never seen a hockey game, nor had yet to watch the Hawks on TV.

WHAT AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE!

The Hawks beat the Red Wings, 4-1, and Bobby Hull scored! Perhaps you've heard stories of how the fans could "raise the roof" at the old Stadium, especially when The Golden Jet scored. I will vouch for that; it was unreal loud!

From that experience, I became a Chicago Black Hawk fan, and especially a fan of Bobby Hull. No more Cups, but seemingly endless excitement and joy. Everybody loved Bobby Hull.

To set the record straight, if that's possible, Bobby Hull knew his value to the team and the NHL. Every year was the same thing---arguments with management over salary. The wealthy but extreme cheapskate Hawk owners did their dead level best to keep Bobby's salary and everyone else's as low as possible.

By late 1971, and then on in to 1972, the fledgling WHA was taking shape. They knew they needed a marquee player attraction. They (or strictly Winnipeg) went after Bobby. He politely refused. They continued. Finally, Hull told them if they would give him a million dollars, he'd jump to the WHA. Winnipeg didn't have that much money, but the owners were all in contact with each other to work together to get their league a reality. So, they each helped Winnipeg raise the $1,000,000 signing bonus, figuring, and rightly so, if Bobby Hull joins the WHA, that will give the league cache and credibility.

Bobby did not really want to jump ship, so he had named a monetary figure they would never meet.

The WHA met it, offering him the $1,000,000 as a signing bonus just to join the league. Bobby Hull was a man of his word. Black Hawk owners NEVER thought he'd leave them or the NHL----until the last minute, when all this money they said they didn't have, they had, doubling the $100,000 they were gonna offer him.

But it was now too late; Bobby being a man of his word, had accepted and signed the documents to become a Winnipeg Jet of the World Hockey Association.

As someone here said, what Bobby did was the catalyst for raising salaries all across the NHL. Stan Mikita said EVERY pro player should get down on their knees every night before they go to bed, and thank God for the sacrifice Bobby Hull made for everybody that paved the way for ALL of them to make a lot more money, commiserate with what they deserved for playing professional hockey.

We all know salaries of all pro sports have gotten WAY out of hand, but it really began with Bobby Hull's "gold mine" departure from the NHL.

A lot of rotten things are being said of Robert Marvin Hull today. He was quoted in a Russian newspaper ... I mean, really, like we're supposed to believe some Russian newspaper would tell us THE GOSPEL TRUTH. Regardless, haven't you ever heard of someone's words being twisted and knotted out of context? But the lynch mob mentality does not want to hear otherwise, even though Bobby vehemently denied saying such horrible things.

Or the time he dangled his wife from a hotel balcony. What do you suppose she did to get her husband so angry? It's none of my, or your business, but let's sit down and think for minute. Have you ever known somebody's wife that was a real bitty, and when she got worked up, she knew every button to push to get her husband upset? My brother sure did. A vitriolic wife can accomplish some bad things with her mouth. I guess Joanne let it all out, pushed his buttons until they jammed, and Bobby couldn't take it anymore. Who knows? Were you there? Was I?

No. But that's all you hear. Fortunately, for both of them, Bob did not let go of her.

A person's life is complex.

I loved and will miss Bobby Hull.

--- Brian Powell