Hockey Legend Bobby Hull Posthumously Diagnosed With CTE
It's been just over two years since hockey legend Bobby Hull died at the age of 84, and it sounds like those years of playing hockey in the era before helmets were mandatory sadly took a toll.
This week, Hull was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
Hull's widow, Deborah Hull, released the news along with the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
She revealed that after Hull's January 2023 death, his brain was donated to science, with it being sent specifically to UNITE Brain Bank at the Boston University CTE Center. There researchers determined that the late NHLer had been suffering from Stage 2 CTE.
"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," Deborah Hull said in a statement. "He insisted on donating his brain, feeling as though it was his duty to help advance research on this agonizing disease."
Hull's widow said that for the last decade of his life, he struggled with short-term memory loss and impaired judgment.
Hockey legend Bobby Hull has been posthumously diagnosed with CTE. (Getty Images)
Hull's diagnosis brings renewed attention to CTE, something a slew of former players have battled with.
"NHL families deserve to know that CTE can be a consequence of the head impacts they receive while playing the game," CLF CEO Dr. Chris Nowinski said. "The NHL still shamelessly refuses to acknowledge this scientific truth, so we hope this message reaches current players so that they, at a minimum, can play with informed consent."
Hull spent 23 seasons playing professional hockey, the first 15 of which were spent in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks.
For the 1972-73 season, Hull made the jump to the upstart World Hockey Association as a member of the Winnipeg Jets and stayed with them through the partial NHL-WHA merger in 1979.
Hull wrapped up his career by playing a handful of games for the Hartford Whalers in 1980.