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Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Dennis Hull, who was a star with the Blackhawks and finished his career with the Red Wings. Hull, the underappreciated brother of Bobby, played in 5 NHL All-Star games and carved his own legacy in the NHL.
When I met him, I mentioned his book, The Third Best Hull. Hull's book is based on his joke that he was not as good as brother Bobby or Bobby's son Brett and that he would be the fourth best Hull, if they let his sister Maxine play! Hull joked that I must be the person who bought the book (note all singular there). Actually, it was quite a good book.
The most interesting story was about how Hull stayed on the roster in his rookie year. Hull was sitting on the bench during a game, when Bobby came over and told him to jump on the ice to take his place. Back then, there was some rule that once you actually appeared in a game, you had to stay on the active list for a certain number of games. The Hull's had basically forced the Hawks into keeping Dennis for a while.
Dennis would go on to have a very good career. Some people say his shot was even harder than Bobby's legendary shot. Hull was part of the successful MPH line (with the late Pit Martin
and Jim Pappin).
It was great meeting this Hawks legend. Hull's warmness and humor really come through as he speaks to everyone. He's not a Hall of Fame player, but he is a Hall of Fame person!
Dennis Hull and me in Willowbrook, IL-March 2009.