? Golden jet «"£*£* toots i BY BECKY POCOCK A SUMMER PIONEER STAFF Driving the same route every time to theBlack Hawks arena in Chicago, repeating the same warmups before a hockey game and never moving an inch during the national anthem were the ways NHL player Bobby Hull prepared to play his best. Hull was not the only superstitious one in 'his family -- his mother wras notorious for watching Hull's hockey games with all her limbs crossed. "My mom was superstitious. She would always cross her fingers, arms and legs while watching my games. I was surprised she didn't just cross her eyes too," said Hull. At a Chicago Black Hawks game in Toronto in 1966, a little boy handed Hull an apple before a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hull then handed his mother the apple before skating off. It was on this night, one of the last games of the season, that Hull fired the 51st goal and broke the individual scoring record.With every goal Hull got leading up to that record, his mother always kissed the apple. Hull later received a box of top grade Macintosh apples for every goal he added to his record that season, ending up with a total of 54 points. Showing their pride for what Hull had accomplished, the residents of Point Anne, on the far east end of Belleville where Hull grew up, greeted him with a 12-foot sign celebrating his birthplace and calling him the world's great- est hockey player. It also showed the record- breaking points Hull had scored that season. "It felt wonderful to have support from the folks I grew up with over the years. Back in that day, they even threw me a parade," said Hull. Hull added that whenever he was aired on Hockey Night in Canada and the announcer said he lived in Belleville, he always corrected him, saying he was from Point Anne. "The people in Point Anne loved when I did that," said Hull. Growing up in that area, it was his father that Hull recalls as being his best coach ever. They would play hockey on an outdoor ice rink with his dad teaching him how to skate and shoot the puck cor- rectly. "Being left wing never really set my position on the ice. Becky Pocock Bobby Hull relaxes and chats with friends while enjoying a cocktail and cigar. Hull played a round of golf, Aug. 16, at the Trillium Woods Golf course to help raise money for the Quinte Cultural Centre. My dad always told me that the ice was all mine," said Hull. "It was working on the family farm and throwing bales of hay that set my arm up for the slapshots that I was later knowrn for." ; • , > .