Attention Bobby Hull Fans!!

megatron

He is selling all of his memorabilia at auction


ARTICLE FROM CHICAGO TRIBUNE MAY 12, 2004

If Chicago Blackhawks fans, wherever they are, want to see what a Stanley Cup ring actually looks like, there's one available for a price to be established. Bobby Hull, the Hall of Fame left wing who played 15 glorious seasons here, has placed all of his hockey memorabilia for sale.

Included in this vast collection is jewelry the Golden Jet earned as a budding superstar who scored 31 goals with the 1960-61 Hawks en route to their championship. That's the last time this once-noble franchise won it all, and no team in the NHL is suffering through a longer drought.

Hull, like a number of former athletes, says he has opted to simplify his life. Gary Player, a golf legend, recently put his trophies up for auction instead of having to decide which members of his family get what.

"That's pretty much how I feel," Hull said Tuesday while traveling through Canada. "I have a bunch of kids, too much stuff, and my wife, Deborah, and I want to get some of these things out of storage before they become a cause for concern. I'm 65 and in good health, but I'm on the back nine, if you know what I mean.

"It's not for the money. You won't have to hold a tag day for me, despite what they paid me in Chicago (laughing). If somehow this can be enjoyed and shared by the fans who I, hopefully, entertained during my 23 years with the Blackhawks and the World Hockey Association, that's all I really care about. I don't know whether what I have is worth $500 or $1 million or somewhere in between. Doesn't really matter."

Hull's cache is being handled by the Web site classicauctions.net in Montreal, where President Marc Juteau has sold artifacts for an array of players, including Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Guy Lafleur and Darryl Sittler.

"The Rocket's memorabilia went for probably $1 million in U.S. funds," Juteau said. "His Stanley Cup ring from 1959 was sold for $25,000. I don't know what Bobby's collection will be worth, but I would think his ring would be a popular item."

Hull admitted, in his heart of hearts, that he wishes his 1961 ring somehow winds up in Chicago, perhaps even in a place where Hawks fans could view it. A museum, maybe. Or what about in a display case at the United Center?

"Ooh, I don't know about that," Hull said, chuckling again. "The general manager there, Bob Pulford, wouldn't want my ring around there. He didn't want me around there, I know that. He had a chance to get my son, Brett, a number of times, but Pulford never wanted to touch Brett because it would have meant I'd have gone to the games. Pulford didn't like that. We might have sold too many tickets."

Hull and Deborah, his wife of 20 years, live in Bradenton, Fla. Besides making various appearances, Hull's other mission is reviving the WHA, which he serves as commissioner. He says the league will attempt to start up again next season in at least six North American cities, even if the NHL averts a lockout.

"If the NHL shuts the doors, then we could be a boon for guys like Brett and Chris Chelios, who are toward the end of their careers," Hull said. "We haven't got Chicago, but I'd love to, because it's still the best city for hockey. Or was."

Hull, of course, left the Hawks for the WHA Winnipeg Jets in 1972. Bill Wirtz, the current Hawks president, admits it was the worst mistake in franchise history. Wirtz is also on record as insisting the Hawks couldn't legally retain Hull by matching the $1 million signing bonus he received via resources pooled from other WHA franchises.

"The myth is that I asked the Hawks for the same thing," Hull stressed. "I asked for five years at $250,000 each, which is what I signed for with Winnipeg. And the night before I did, the Hawks sent a courier to my house in Glen Ellyn with an offer for just that. If they'd have done that earlier, when they were sailing around in their 110-foot ocean liner I helped build, I'd have never left.

"I didn't want to go to Winnipeg because I didn't want to go anywhere. But I have no problems with Bill. He would sit in our negotiations, if you want to call them that, and tell his dad, Arthur, 'you know, Bobby's right.' Arthur didn't even listen. My first contract with Chicago was for $6,500. I would have played for nothing, but they knew it. We were all that way, but we had more fun in one year than the guys playing now have in a lifetime.

"The old man, Arthur, didn't like to be challenged. Or beaten, in court. My agent and accountant, Harvey Wineberg , figured it all out after I jumped. While the old man argued with me over pennies, the seven-year war with the WHA in legal fees and salaries cost the NHL $1 billion. That's some way to do business, especially with a guy like me who wanted to stay and threw out a $1 million bonus figure to the new league just to scare them off. Well, they didn't get scared.

"I don't regret a minute, though. Like Mickey Mantle said before he died, 'If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.' I'm only sorry when I see what has come of the Blackhawks. Pulford has been there how long, 27 years? How could Billy let Pulford turn that franchise from the best in the NHL, maybe the best in sports, to the worst? How does something like that happen?"

tripoli

Cool, Bobby was my hero when I was growing up in the late 1960's. It's too bad some of these NHL owners think they are operating a coal mine in the 1700's.

Dan