Bobby And Brett Hull: The NHL's Record-Shattering Father And Son Duo
It's difficult to become a pro athlete. Once that's accomplished, it's even more difficult to become a legendary pro athlete. Those players who achieved legendary status go down in history long after they've stepped away from their impressive careers on the field, court, or the ice. In the National Hockey League (NHL), the last name Hull is known by pretty much everyone because the family took the ice by storm for multiple generations.
It began when Bobby Hull was 18 years old and proved he had what it took to go pro when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 1957. He kicked off his career with the number 16 and ended it with the now-retired number 9. Bobby Hull was nicknamed "The Golden Jet" and had a long career full of achievements and awards, according to Second City Hockey. It wasn't long before his son, Brett Hull, or "The Golden Brett," took to the ice and proved once more that the Hull family was a force to be reckoned with. Both father and son have impressive track records on the ice but combined, they've achieved milestones no other hockey players have.
The Hulls excelled throughout their careers
Bobby Hull possessed a slapshot of remarkable speeds between 97 and 120 miles per hour (via The New York Times). Throughout his career, he scored the most goals in franchise history at a whopping 604, and he became the first-ever player to score more than 50 goals in a season when he scored 54 between 1961 and 1962. He would go on to have four seasons with over 50 goals (per Second City Hockey).
Bobby Hull's son, Brett, proved that the apple doesn't always fall far from the tree when in the three seasons between 1989 and 1991, he scored 72, 86, and 70 goals. Throughout his career on the ice, he scored the third most goals in NHL history with 741 (per Second City Hockey). Brett played his career with the number 16 before spending his last five games using his father's number 9.
Their careers are impressive on their own but combined, the father-and-son duo are the only ones to score more than 50 goals in a single season, which they achieved on February 6, 1990, according to the National Hockey League. They're also the only father-son duo to score more than 600 goals in their entire NHL careers.
The duo both achieved a spot among the 100 Greatest NHL Players
The impressive tandem accomplishments don't stop with their high number of goals or super-speed slapshots, as Bobby and Brett Hull are among the 100 Greatest NHL Players, according to the NHL. In addition, they are the only father-and-son pair among all one hundred players. After the two were honored for their careers on the ice, Brett Hull said in a statement published by the NHL, "That was the coolest thing. To be a part of it with my dad was something special."
Fellow Chicago Blackhawks player Patrick Kane commended the father and son for their sheer excellence over the years and said (via the NHL), "Father, son, and each of them scoring so many goals in the NHL is pretty amazing." The pair have left a permanent legacy behind on the National Hockey League and the world of sports in general through their own achievements as individual players and their combined achievements as the most formidable father and son on the ice. Both of the Hulls' numbers, 16 and 9, are now retired.