REPORT: NHL Legend Diagnosed With CTE Following Tragic Death
Chicago Blackhawks great and Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull was posthumously diagnosed with Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), his widow announced on Wednesday.
Bobby Hull passed away at the age of 84 on Jan. 30, 2023. His widow, Deborah Hull, announced that researchers at the Boston University CTE Center discovered stage 2 CTE after analyzing his brain, per the Associated Press.
Mrs. Hull gave the following statement:
“Seeing the pain and heartache suffered by his lifetime friend Stan Mikita’s family, Bobby felt strongly no other family should have to endure CTE. He insisted on donating his brain, feeling as though it was his duty to help advance research on this agonizing disease.”
CTE can only be diagnosed after death when an autopsy is conducted. Though CTE is widely connected to the sport of American football, more than a dozen former NHL players were posthumously diagnosed with it.
Per the Associated Press, Hull’s family stated that he suffered from impaired judgment and short-term memory loss over the last 10 years of his life. Hull played in an era where, of course, where skaters didn’t wear helmets. The league didn’t make helmets mandatory until 1979.
As a hockey player, few players dominated games the way Bobby Hull did. He won three scoring titles, back-to-back Hart Trophies (the NHL’s version of the MVP) and led the Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup championship in 1961.
A nine-time 50-goal scorer as a pro (NHL and WHA), Bobby Hull finished with 610 career goals and 1,170 points.
Bobby Hull Left Behind A Controversial Legacy
As great of a hockey player Hall was, it’s hard to overlook the many controversies that followed in his post-playing days.
Hull’s first wife, Joanne McKay, detailed several disturbing domestic abuse allegations that transpired during their marriage. Hull was arrested in 1986 for assaulting Deborah, but she declined to press charges against her husband.
“The Golden Jet” was a controversial figure following his playing days because of numerous domestic abuse allegations as well as his apparent praise of Adolf Hitler. In 1998, The Moscow Times quoted Hull as saying that Hitler “had some good ideas.”
