Rhino's Ramblings - WHA When Hull Arrived In Moose Jaw

By Robert Thomas - Opinion/Commentary

For those of you who are too young to remember one of the greatest stars from what arguably is the NHL's golden era passed away today.

Robert Marvin Hull OC or simply known as Bobby Hull from Belleville, Ontario passed away today.

Hull was one of the greats of hockey.

He was one of those players who during his time set new heights both on and off the ice.

Hull had his marital problems. Something his brother Dennis Hull would make light of on the sport celebrity speaking circuit including right here in Moose Jaw.

Bobby was a man whose off ice exploits in many ways shaped the game for what it is today.

When the upstart World Hockey Association (WHA) was forming it shocked the rival established National Hockey League (NHL) when Bobby jumped ship and joined the WHA.

Although that was big news at the time - for a major star to go from the NHL to the WHA - the real news was Bobby was the first professional hockey player to sign a deal for a $1 million salary.

Hull's jumping to the Winnipeg Jets and the tidal wave it set off in hockey circles had sports writers and others who followed the game saying the acronym WHA really stood for When Hull Arrived.

That is just how powerful his jumping ship for a cool million bucks was to the WHA.

Bobby's arrival instantly drew not just fan attention but it also brought other star players from the NHL to the WHA.

The likes of Gerry Cheevers, Gordie Howe and Marc Tardiff all ended up playing on WHA franchises.

Even the Great One Wayne Gretzky would start his professional hockey career with the WHA.

Believe it or not Gretzky was never drafted by an NHL team but would play initially for the Indianapolis Racers before having his contract sold to the Edmonton Oilers just as the WHA folded and some teams joined the NHL.

But this is a story about Bobby Hull and his connection to Moose Jaw.

His connection came as part of Bobby's being invited to be a head table speaker at the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club's Annual Sport Celebrity Dinner back in the 1990's.

I vividly remember that dinner even though it is now 30 years plus I believe when Bobby spoke.

Hull was one of the many from the Chicago Black Hawks who came through Moose due to the now defunct Moose Jaw Canucks affiliation with the team.

I also remember the interview I did with him and Moose Jaw Warrior's former coach Mike Babcock that year for the now defunct Moose Jaw paper.

Speaking to Hull was a great honour for me and will be one of the things I vividly remember.

Not just for what Bobby and I talked about but wow this was a man who was able to set the ice on fire.

I remember watching him as a child on Hockey Night In Canada.

When I spoke to Bobby that day it was also about his dad.

A man who I had met on more than one ocassion at the A & P in Belleville, Ontario.

A man who had proudly told me in a loud voice you could here from one end of the A & P to the other - “I’m Bobby Hull's dad.”

A man who had just recently passed away.

A man who told me tons about Bobby and what it was like to be his dad.

“I bet you he talked your ear off,” Bobby told me when I went to express my condolences for his and Dennis's loss.

It was a brash response which threw me off guard is why I so vividly remember it.

I had used my experience in the hopes it would open Bobby up and in the brief minutes we talked at the sports celebrity dinner I just might get the defining story of Hull in the then Band City.

What Hull and I talked about then was his greatest accomplishment in hockey.

It wasn't his records on the ice, the $1 million salary or even his curved stick and wicked snapshot.

But rather it was his comment “I’m proud to have sired such a great son in Brett.”

That was it - Bobby Hull's greatest accomplishment was being Brett Hull's father.

Brett at the time was a major force not just for the St Louis Blues but the NHL as well.

Anything that he did on and off the ice was easily surpassed by being Brett Hull's dad.

For me at the time I could not help but think of being back in Belleville and likely Bobby would be doing the same thing in the A & P as his dad had done five years earlier.

My talk with Bobby turned to ranching and cattle genetics.

Hull at the time was a farmer breeding and raising cattle on his farm.

Hull told me he was also proud to have grown up on a farm.

It was something which we hit off on as I had spent lots of time on farms growing up as a kid in rural Saskatchewan.

We talked about cattle, selective breeding and raising breeding bulls for at least two minutes in the 10 minutes I spent with him.

Hull was very interested in area cattle ranchers.

I then had the opportunity to speak to then Moose Jaw Warriors coach Mike Babcock about what he thought about being a head table guest at the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Sports Celebrity Dinner.

The often arrogant Mike Babcock was a very much humbled man as he spoke to me that evening.

“It is a privilege and a great honour to be at the same table eating with that man,” Babcock said as he looked over at Hull.

This was the same Mike Babcock who would call me a effing idiot to my face not twice but thrice during the brief period I covered the Moose Jaw Warriors.

“You have to know what Hull has done for hockey, for the game and not be humbled sitting here at the same table,” is what Babcock said to me.

This is why I remember Babcock's comments that evening they seemed for me to come from somebody else than the Mike Babcock I interviewed in the past.

I will have to personally admit I was in many ways the same as Babcock was that night as I actually bought one of the pucks that Bobby signed.

I still have it in my momento collection.

This for Moose Jaw was the real highlight of Bobby's visit and the fact he had helped raise money for the Kinsmen Club's pledge for the Kinsmen Sportsplex and the indoor pool.

Thousands of dollars Hull helped raise - albeit he was paid for attending and being the keynote guest and speaker.

But it wasn’t my last encounter with Bobby.

The last time I ran into Hull was at a hockey tournament in August 1998 in Moscow at an ill fated interview he gave with the Moscow Times.

No I didn’t do that interview (but I did say hi to him) I was there taking photos of the tournament - so you know I’m actually a trained photojournalist and I was in Russia lots during that time.

At the time Hull got back into his talking about the farm and genetics which quickly spilled from cattle into people.

From there those brief moments talking about farming and genetics forever tarnished the Hull brand for many. He made a step into the world of eugenics.

Perhaps Bobby was just a product of his times. And no I am not making excuses for his off ice behavior.

Bobby came from a different era of hockey - an era of Harold Ballard, Alan Eagleson and Clarence Campbell - when leadership off the ice was 100 percent horrible.

Now do I agree with the horrible things reported he said or allegedly did off ice?

Not one bit.

As I think back to my encounters with Bobby I will have to say he was one of the great ones on the ice despite his off ice flaws.

And that for me is how I will remember him - talented but at the same time likely too honest for his own good.