Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull died at his home on Monday, January 30, 2023. He was 84 years old.

The Chicago Blackhawks great, known as the Golden Jet because of his blond hair and speed on the ice, played 15 seasons with the club. A 12-time All-Star and two-time Hart Trophy winner, he was instrumental in Chicago’s 1961 Stanley Cup win. Hull had one of hardest slap shots in the league, which could reportedly reach 118 mph. He scored 604 goals during his career and was among the top three NHL scorers for ten seasons.

Hull was born on January 3, 1939 in Point Anne, Ontario. He played minor hockey in Belleville, Junior B hockey with the Woodstock Warriors in ’54, played for the Galt Black Hawks and the St. Catharines Teepees before joining the Chicago Black Hawks.

After he left the Blackhawks, he got the first $1 million contract in professional hockey, when he joined the WHA’s Winnipeg Jets as a player and coach. There, he played seven seasons and helped the team win two Avco Cups. He won the Gordie Howe MVP trophy twice, and scored 77 goals in a single season.

When the WHA and NHL merged, he played another season with the Jets then briefly played with the Hartford Whalers before retiring. Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

His personal reputation, however, was not as good as the one on the ice. Hull was accused of domestic abuse by two of his three wives. His second wife, Joanne McKay, claimed that he held her over a balcony, hit her with a shoe, and menaced her with a loaded gun. He also allegedly hit his third wife, Deborah, but she dropped the charges. While speaking to The Moscow Times, he was quoted as saying that the black population in the US was growing too fast and that Hitler’s ideas about selective genetic breeding were good, but he went too far. Later he claimed that he did not make the statements.