Sad to learn of the passing of former Chicago Black Hawks star Dennis Hull this weekend at the age of 81. Hull was often a featured celebrity and speaker at the Syl Apps Charity golf tournament in Kingston that ran for 20 years, a huge annual fundraiser for the local Rotary Club organized by former Leafs defenseman Jim Dorey and Rotarian Mark Santoni.

Hull joked he never liked Kingston, “In minor hockey, we would win everything in Belleville, but we could never get past Kingston in the playdowns.”

One of 11 kids – Dennis grew up in Point Anne, Ontario, outside of Belleville, in the shadow of his older brother Bobby. In 1998, Dennis authored a book on his life called, “The Third Best Hull: I Should Have Been Fourth, But They Wouldn’t Let My Sister Maxine Play.”

I met Dennis and Bobby at a charity golf tournament in Picton in the 1980’s. They supported the tournament for several years and I did a feature story on the Hull brothers for CKWS-TV interviewing them in the club’s parking lot. They spent most of the interview poking fun at each other and after golf Dennis finished the night as the after-dinner guest speaker.

Much of his material made light of brother Bobby, “Over the years, I’ve been to hundreds of banquets and five of Bobby’s weddings. I don’t see anyone in a white dress – so this must be a banquet.” It always got big laughs.

Meeting Dennis and Bobby led me to getting Bobby to bring his collection of hockey artifacts to Kingston’s Original Hockey Hall of Fame – and it became our marquee display for over a decade. “Shoulder pads held together by dust,” joked the Golden Jet.

Dennis carved out quite a career himself scoring over 300 NHL goals and in the 1970’s forming one of the NHL’s most dangerous lines in Chicago with Jim Pappin and Pit Martin. Chicago lost to Montreal in the Stanley Cup final in 1971 and 1973. Hull played for Team Canada in the famed 1972 Summit Series versus the Soviets

In addition to his lucrative post-hockey career as a sought-after guest speaker at banquets and hockey events, Dennis went back to school and earned a degree at Brock University in St. Catharines where he played his junior hockey.

It led to a teaching job at Ridley College and Hull recalls being told he was coaching the school’s track team, “I knew nothing about track. I just told the kids to keep turning left and meet me back here.”

Dennis loved playing in Chicago and returned to the Windy City as the Athletic Director at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

After retirement he got great satisfaction working on his farm with brother Gary – the farm located north of Port Hope – was where they raised polled Hereford cattle. Hull also did over sixty appearances a year as a guest speaker telling his hockey stories, and he worked as the first colour commentator for the San Jose Sharks.

In the early 1990’s, nephew Brett Hull scored 86 goals for the St. Louis Blues after signing a new contract worth over $5 million a season. Dennis remembers Brett asking him at a family function, “Uncle Dennis, what would you have done if you made $5 million a year when you played?” Dennis replied, “I would have quit at Christmas.”

While brother Bobby was one of the most feared shooters in the NHL in the 1960’s, many believed Dennis had an even harder shot. Dennis loved sharing this story, “Bobby could shoot the puck so hard he could put it through a car wash and the puck wouldn’t even get wet. My shot was harder than Bobby’s, but I couldn’t hit the car wash.”  

Dennis may have played in the imposing shadow of Bobby, but he had a great career and blazed his own path. Hull’s funny stories will remain part of hockey lore, and with his passing it chips away at another link now missing from the NHL’s Original Six era.