Rest in Peace - Bobby Hull

Don Wassall

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One of the all time greats without question.

It's mostly forgotten now, but Hull briefly became "controversial" some years back by saying some things that are associated with the "far right." This is how Wikipedia summarizes it, which is undoubtedly distorted to some degree but somewhat accurate: "In 1998, Hull entered controversy after he allegedly made pro-Nazi comments. According to The Moscow Times he was quoted as saying, 'Hitler, for example, had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far.' Hull later denied having complimented Hitler and said journalists had raised the subject."

All-time great pitcher Steve Carlton made similar comments some years back, but like Hull he "survived" by not saying anything publicly along those lines again.

Bobby Hull was a legend, RIP.
 

BeyondFedUp

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I wasn't a hockey fan as a youngster living in a non-hockey-team state like Texas but we knew of and respected the great talent of hockey players. Bobby Hull was one of the names we knew and it was part of superior athletic competition that a lot of us knew was worthy of that respect.

I can't help but think of him being a household name of America 1.0. Hats off to him and condolences to all who knew him. RIP.
 

Flint

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Bobby Hull was arguably the greatest hockey player ever. He certainly was one the most famous. Gordie played all those years, Orr had a brief run, Gretzky has all the scoring records. But Bobby Hull was the MAN!

I remember him scoring 50 goals in a short season with that cannon slap shot while flying down the left wing. One of the greats of the golden era of sports.
 
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Bobby Hull was the most famous hockey player ever, becoming so in the 1960s.

A goalie said that with a Bobby Hull slap shot, the problem wasn't blocking it. The key was to keep from being killed.
 

white is right

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One of the all time greats without question.

It's mostly forgotten now, but Hull briefly became "controversial" some years back by saying some things that are associated with the "far right." This is how Wikipedia summarizes it, which is undoubtedly distorted to some degree but somewhat accurate: "In 1998, Hull entered controversy after he allegedly made pro-Nazi comments. According to The Moscow Times he was quoted as saying, 'Hitler, for example, had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far.' Hull later denied having complimented Hitler and said journalists had raised the subject."

All-time great pitcher Steve Carlton made similar comments some years back, but like Hull he "survived" by not saying anything publicly along those lines again.

Bobby Hull was a legend, RIP.
His interview with a Russian newspaper was explained away as a misquote but he like Jim Brown had a history of domestic violence. I know he had a history of hitting the bottle hard similar to Mantle but it spilled out into his personal life with the domestic violence incidents and around the newspaper article he went into rehab. I don't know whether he stayed sober for the rest of his life.

As for his abilities he could have been the Canadian version of Bo Jackson as he ran track, played running back and of course was a blue chip hockey prospect who became the best goal scorer of his generation who invented the slap shot and led to the adaptation of the goal mask to prevent skull fractures from the faster and less accurate shot.
 
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