Hockey player Bobby Hull: biography and photos

Nicknamed "The Golden Jet" for his blond hair and fast riding, Bobby Hull is a hockey player who has become the most effective left-handed hitter in the history of the National Hockey League. The NHL player Chicago Blackhawks, and later the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association, all 23 years of his career as a professional hockey player demonstrated power, pressure and speed.

Bobby Hull: Biography

Robert Marvin Hull was born on 03.01.1939 in a small Canadian town with a population of about 500 people Pointe-Enne. He was the eldest son in a family of 11 children born by Robert Edward and Lena Hull. His younger brother, Dennis William, later played with him in the Chicago Blackhawks. Robert for several years played in the lower hockey league, where he became known as the Blond Lightning. He supported his family, working as a handyman at the plant No. 5 of the Canadian cement company.

From an early age, Bobby Hull (photo posted later in the article) played hockey and grew up enthusiastic about sports. He told Joe Sexton of The New York Times that he never went to a particular place in his childhood, but always ran. And I could not wait for winter. His father often found him in the heat of the summer in a house sweating strongly from the heat. He liked the winter, the ice. The game became an obsession. By the age of ten, many thought that Hull would perform in the NHL. He continued to play in youthful hockey in Hesperler, Woodstock and St. Catharines, where his coach was Rudi Pylus, who later coached Bobby in the National Hockey League.

Slow Start

In 1957, at the age of less than 18 years, Hull finally began his career in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks. True, he began slowly. In his first two years, although he appeared in 70 games every season, the hockey player scored only 31 goals. Nevertheless, he managed to make 34 assists in 1957/95 and 32 in a year. His performance dramatically increased to 39 in the 1959/1960 season, when Hull mastered the washer throw "click", increasing the curvature of his stick. Thanks to him, this technique became popular in the NHL. The speed of his throw was 190 km / h. Goalkeeper Les said that when the puck was torn from the stick, it looked like a pea. Gaining speed, she looked less and less and could no longer be seen. 39 goals Halla provided him "Art Ross Trophy" for the largest number of abandoned pucks in the 1959/1960 season.

Success on all fronts

Bobby Hull married former skater Joanne McKay in 1960. Together they had five children, Bobby Jr., Blake, Brett (who himself became the NHL star), Bart and Michelle.

In the season of 1960/1961. He scored 31 goals and made 25 assists, receiving 56 full points in 67 games. More importantly, he helped the club from Chicago for the first time in 23 years win the Stanley Cup. Hull had an outstanding result in the playoffs. In 12 games he scored four goals and made 10 assists. The coach of the team was then Rudy Pilus, the mentor of Bobby, when he was a junior. Hull's success consisted of his natural talent, excellent skating and hard throws. He was one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, accelerating to 46 km / h with a puck and 48 km / h without it. Although the "click" was his fastest hit, Bobby's wrist speed reached 170 km / h, and his left-hand shot gained 154 km / h. In addition, much to the delight of fans of Chicago, Hull managed to have fun on the ice. As the New York Times wrote, Bobby was a fast left-handed hitter who produced goals thanks to his mania work and a volcanic "click" explosion. And if he lost most of his teeth, breaking through the defense, he never lost his face.

At the peak of his career

Hull's abilities continued to shine in 1961/1962, when he scored 50 goals, reaching the NHL record for the maximum number of goals per season. For his efforts he received the second "Art Ross Trophy". Although in the next three seasons the number of abandoned pucks exceeded 40 only once, in 1963/1964. With 43 goals, Bobby Hull was one of the dominant players in the NHL. In the 1964/1965 season, scoring only 39 goals and making 32 assists in 67 games, he led Blackhawks to the exciting final round of the competition. Although the team did not win the Stanley Cup, Hull scored 10 goals in 14 games and made 7 assists. At the end of the season, he was named the most valuable player in the NHL and received the "Hart Trophy". For an approximate sporting behavior, he was awarded the "Lady Bing Trophy".

At the peak of his career in the mid-1960s, Bobby Hull was one of the most exciting hockey players. He dazzled his fans with breaks through the whole area and frightened the goalkeepers with a terrible "click".

Born to win

In the 1965/1966 season, Bobby Hull became the first NHL player to overcome the 50-goal barrier, scoring 54 goals. In addition, he made 43 assists. For this he received the third "Art Ross Trophy" and the second "Hart Trophy" as the most valuable league player. In the following season, he again scored more than 50 goals - there were 52 of them.

Although in 1967/1968. He slackened a bit, having scored only 44 goals with 31 assists in 71 games, in the beginning of 1968/1969 Hull began to earn more. He wanted to receive $ 100,000 for the season, which was unheard of at the time. After 11 games, Bobby agreed to 60 thousand dollars and was forced by the team's management to apologize publicly. However, Hull proved his value. He beat his own record for the number of goals in the season, having thrown 58 goals. With his 49 assists, Bobby scored more than 107 points, the only time he managed to do it in the NHL. At the end of the season he received "Leicester Patrick Trophy" for outstanding services in hockey.

In 1967 the book "Bobby Hull. My game is hockey. " In it, the author, who was at the peak of his fame, modestly gives autobiographical information, but more teaches the game - skating, puck possession, aggressiveness (in a good sense), defense, scoring goals, practice and training. Also, Bobby Hull's book teaches how to properly watch matches.

Confrontation with the NHL

One hallmark of Hull's career was his penchant for frankness. Although he had one mediocre year, the 1969/1970 season (a total of 38 goals and 20 assists in 61 games), followed by an excellent year with 44 goals and 52 assists in 78 games, Bobby threatened to stage a strike during the playoffs 1971. The League was going to impose a ban on the use of curved clubs, which Hull loved and popularized. The hockey player left the playoffs and persuaded other players to join him if this ban was imposed. Nevertheless, a compromise was reached, and a bend of up to half an inch was allowed. Hull continued to play the best playoffs in his career in terms of the number of points scored. In 18 meetings he scored 11 goals and made 14 assists, but the Blackhawks failed to win the Stanley Cup.

Money again became a problem for the hockey player even before the start of the 1972 season. He demanded more royalties from the Black Hawks, but the club refused. Jack Kent Cook, owner of another NHL team, Los Angeles Kings, wanted to get Hull if the Blackhawks agreed to this. Bobby later said in an interview that, in his opinion, things could have turned out differently if the club had deterred him or even sent him to Los Angeles. But the ego and greed of the club prompted him to decide to move to the new professional league of the World Hockey Association. Founded by lawyers, the league believed that a star of the caliber of Hull would help her to succeed.

A tempting offer

When Bobby Hull was negotiating with Winnipeg Jets, he made an improvised remark about the desire to receive $ 1 million in advance. He did not believe that he would actually receive this amount. But when the Jets offered him a $ 1 million bonus for signing the contract, $ 1 million in wages over four years, and $ 100,000 a year for six years for co-operating with the team, Hull left the NHL. His act allowed the league to instantly gain the confidence it needed. His contract had a side effect, as a result of which the salary of players in the NHL and the VAA sharply increased. In addition, the National Hockey League spent millions, challenging the very existence of a competitor in the courts.

Success in the ACA

Hull's stay in Winnipeg was marked by some of the best years in his career. In each of his first four seasons he scored more than 50 goals. For 15 years, which Bobby played in Chicago, he had only 5 seasons, when he achieved such a result. In his first season of 1972/1973. He missed 20 matches, but scored 51 goals and made 52 assists for 103 points in 63 games. In the years 1974/1975. In 78 meetings, Hull scored 77 goals and was named the most valuable player in the VCA, as in the previous season. It was the best year in his career in this league. The following season, he played only 34 games, but managed to score 53 points. In the years 1977/1978. Hull took part in 77 games, but scored only 46 goals and made 71 assists.

Not taking part in the USSR-Canada matches of 1972, Bobby Hull against Tretyak spoke in 1974.

Back in the NHL

VXA could not support itself, and several teams, including Winnipeg Jets, entered the NHL at the beginning of the 1979/1980 season. Hull stayed with the club, but played only in 18 meetings, before he was bargained out by another old team of the HX "Hartford Whalers". He appeared in nine games and in three meetings after the end of the season, before he was released. At that time, Hull is going through a very bitter and public divorce with his wife Joanna. Among other claims, she accused him of physical insults. After the divorce was completed in June 1980, she took the children and moved to Vancouver. The hockey player has not seen them for ten years. Bobby Hull, whose personal life collapsed, tried to restart his career in the "New York Rangers". He was in the training camp of the club in 1980, but was not enrolled in the team. Hull played professional hockey for 23 years.

Life after sport

After the departure of Bobby Hull in the number of goals and points scored took second place after the legend of hockey Gordie Howe. For his 15 seasons in the NHL, he scored a total of 610 goals and scored 1170 points, which made him the most effective left-handed hitter in history at that time. His achievements in the ACA were no less impressive. In 330 games he scored 255 goals and scored 515 points. Having left hockey, Hull devoted most of his time to his ranch in Saskatchewan and Bellville, Ontario, and was president of Bobby Hull Enterprises. He also worked for many years, starting in 1982, as a sports commentator on Canadian television. In 1983, Hull was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Goalkeeping Nightmare

Even after Bobby Hull left hockey, he continues to set NHL records. When his son Brett became the star of the league in the late 1980s and 1990s, they became the only father and son who scored 500 washers and scored 1000 points. According to Lorna Worsley, goalkeepers are scared when they are slaughtered. Playing against guys like Bobby Hull or his son, you always wait for them to leave the ice, and then - when they return to it. And when they appear, even without a puck, they will definitely get it, and the goalkeeper knows it. Thank God that they do not come so often.