'Maybe I was used as a scapegoat': Hull has mixed feelings on losing Blackhawks ambassador role

When John McDonough began the Blackhawks' ambassador program in 2008, his first phone call was to Bobby Hull.

"One of our first objectives was to let it be known that we were out of the grudge business," McDonough told Bob Verdi in 2010. "You can't have a meaningful present or a strong future if you are at war with your past."

According to McDonough, his conversation with Hull - who still holds the franchise record with 604 goals - lasted about two hours.

During a subsequent meeting with McDonough, owner Rocky Wirtz and all-time points leader Stan Mikita, Hull laid out the terms to which he and Mikita would agree to sign on the dotted line.

"I did most of the talking," Hull said. "After we left, I was only about 15 blocks away and the phone rings. It was McDonough. ... He says, 'Well, I wanted to let you know that your amount of compensation has been accepted.'

"I said, 'And what about Mikita?'

"He said, 'He'll get the same as you.'"

Hull accepted, then called Mikita, who told him: "Christ, I should have let you negotiate for me my whole career!"

Bringing Hull and Mikita back - and later adding Tony Esposito and Denis Savard - helped heal the gaping wounds that existed for much of the fan base.

The program has been wildly successful and remains in place to this day.

A major change was made earlier this season, however, when Hull was informed his services would no longer be needed. That means, with the death of Mikita in 2018 and Esposito in 2021, that Savard is the only original member left. Chris Chelios was added in 2018.

Hull was notified of the Hawks' decision by phone late last year. He isn't sure who called, only that it was "some girl and some attorney." The Hawks, who politely declined interview requests with Rocky Wirtz, CEO Danny Wirtz and Jaime Faulkner, president of business operations, would not divulge that information.

"This is the only time I've ever been let go from any job I've ever been in," Hull said. "It's a little bit disappointing. I thought we ambassadors were doing a good job with the fans."

Change in direction

When news of Hull's ousting broke a month ago, the Hawks released a statement that read: "We're redefining the role of team ambassador - which unfortunately comes on the heels of losing two very special members of that family. When it comes to Bobby, specifically, we jointly agreed earlier this season that he will retire from any official team role."

Hull, who had some troubling off-ice incidents over the years, said he believes the Hawks made this decision to "cover up their shortcomings" in the wake of the Brad Aldrich sexual abuse scandal.

"Maybe I was used as a scapegoat," said Hull, who was convicted of assaulting a police officer who was trying to arrest him during an altercation with his wife in 1986. "They brought up things that happened 50 years ago to cover up their shortcomings with this pedophile. Whomever was involved did it all wrong. (Aldrich) should have been reported to the feds and it would have been over with 12 years ago.

"Had I had anything to do with it, I would have kicked the (crap) out of (him) and then called the feds and said, '(This guy) is a pedophile. Put him in jail.' And it would have been all over and Rocky wouldn't have had to go through it.

"Rocky's been a fabulous guy. And I still say he's a fabulous guy and I'd stand behind him come hell or high water."

Hull has been accused of spousal abuse and was also quoted by a Russian newspaper in 1998 saying that Adolf Hitler "had some good ideas" and that the Black community in the U.S. was growing too quickly. He vehemently denied those quotes in a statement published by the Los Angeles Times, saying he was "deeply offended" by those "false statements."

Hull didn't want to discuss the subject further when interviewed recently.

'On my own again'

The fan base had a wide range of reactions when learning of the Hawks' decision to part ways with Hull. In polls on two Facebook Hawks pages, 43.2% of 234 respondents disagreed with the decision, 40.1% agreed and 16.7% were conflicted.

"Those who weren't upset, that's OK. They have their rights," Hull said. "But the people that were upset, if you canvass them, you'd have found out how much I meant to that group - teenagers or young 20s in the (1950s). They're 75 or 80 now. They'd tell you what they thought."

Hull said what the Hawks told him over the phone bothered him a bit too. He didn't like that events from decades ago were given as the reasons for his dismissal.

"I didn't deserve to (have those things) brought up again," Hull said. "They could have said, 'Bobby's getting old. He'll be 83 at his next birthday and we've decided he no longer can keep up with what we have in mind for the schedule.' "

No matter what, Hull isn't about to disappear from the public eye.

After all, his No. 9 still hangs in the United Center rafters, and statues of him and Mikita sit outside the United Center. The 83-year-old has also been to The Palace Grill Restaurant four or five times this season, selling a wide variety of memorabilia, and plans to return April 12 and 27.

Hull said he had a "fabulous" time during his 13 years as ambassador. It began in earnest March 7, 2008, with a stirring on-ice ceremony in which Rocky Wirtz received a rousing ovation when he introduced Mikita and Hull.

It continued with public appearances and thousands upon thousands of handshakes at Blackhawks games over the years, with the ambassadors leaving their suites to greet fans.

"Back when I was hired I was in no man's land. I was at sea," Hull said. "I wasn't a Blackhawk and I wasn't a Winnipeg Jet, and I wanted to be back in this city at that time.

"I was pleased and proud that they had asked me to come back and be a part of their organization because I always knew that Rocky Wirtz was a straight-up guy and that I'd love to work for him."

As the conversation evolved, Hull admitted to having mixed emotions.

"I was disappointed," he reiterated. "But you want to know something? I wasn't quite 83 when (the Hawks called), but I was at a point where I'd just about had enough of not doing what I wanted to do. I had other things that I wanted to do.

"So I wasn't really disappointed to the fact, 'Ooh. I don't have to go to every game. I don't have to go to 40-some games a year.'

"I was disappointed that it was the first time I had been let go from a job, but I was on my own again."