Kent Hull played a significant part in the rebirth of the Bills in the late 1980s. He was one of the N.F.L.’s best centers and most respected leaders. Hull died on Tuesday of intestinal bleeding, according to the coroner’s report. He was 50 years old. A few thoughts:
On Aug. 18, 1986, Jim Kelly, three years after he was drafted, finally became a Buffalo Bill. That same day, with considerably less fanfare, the Bills signed a free agent who became Kelly’s center for the next 11 seasons, Kent Hull. The Bills sent a limousine to the airport for Kelly. They picked Hull up in the equipment van. In their time together, Buffalo won seven division titles, made the playoffs eight times and appeared in a record four consecutive Super Bowls.
Hull was a three-year starter on Mississippi State teams that went to two bowl games under Emory Bellard. He once said that his greatest football memory, even including the Super Bowls, was of the Bulldogs’ 6-3 victory over top-ranked Alabama and Bear Bryant in 1980.
Hull began his professional career in 1983 with the only team that drafted him: the New Jersey Generals of the U.S.F.L. For three seasons he blocked for quarterbacks Brian Sipe and Doug Flutie and running backs Maurice Carthon and Herschel Walker. Those years were vital in Hull’s development. He often cited the example set, on and off the field, by the veterans who had played in the N.F.L., like Jim LeClair and Dave Lapham.
When the U.S.F.L. folded, Hull drew interest from at least 10 N.F.L. teams. He chose the Bills because their starting center, Tim Vogler, had just seriously injured his knee. “I told my wife that I was going somewhere where there was a need for me and not necessarily for the money,” Hull recalled years later. “…I picked Buffalo just to show what I could do. It was the best decision I ever made in my life.” (Jim Gehman, “Then Levy Said to Kelly: The Best Buffalo Bills Stories Ever Told”, Triumph Books, 2008)
Hull was so sure he would be cut about a week or two into his first training camp that he left his wife back home in Mississippi. After just a few practices, however, he was Buffalo’s starting center.
Hull went on to play 170 regular-season games, all with the Bills, including 108 in a row from 1986 to 1992, and in 19 postseason games. He made first-team All-Pro in 1990 and 1991, and was elected to the Pro Bowl in 1988, 1989, and 1990. Hull was a captain in his last seven seasons and was inducted to the Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo in 2002.
At 6-5 and about 280 pounds, and with long arms, Hull was big and strong enough to usually handle the big nose tackles without help. That enabled the guards, who didn’t have to execute the double-team block, to get a direct run at the linebackers at the second level. Hull had good footwork and excellent balance.
By the late 1980s, Hull joined tackles Will Wolford and Howard Ballard and guards Jim Ritcher, John Davis, and later, Glenn Parker, to form one of the league’s best offensive lines. The Bills led the N.F.L. in scoring in 1990 and in rushing yards in 1991 and 1992, and finished in the top 10 in rushing yards every year from 1988 to 1996.
Hull was tough, dependable and consistent. Perhaps his best asset, though, was his football intelligence. The fast paced, no-huddle offense the Bills ran in those years required the center to get over the ball quickly and immediately recognize the defensive front. Then, he had to make the proper line call, changing the blocking pattern for the run or the pass protection scheme if necessary. This was all done in just a few seconds, and it got more difficult as the zone blitzes became prevalent in the early ’90s. Steve Tasker elaborates:
If Jim (Kelly) was the star of the no-huddle, center Kent Hull was its unsung hero. Besides identifying defensive formations and making the appropriate calls for the offensive line, Kent would also shake off certain calls Jim might make. It was kind of like a catcher advising a pitcher about what he should throw. I remember several occasions when Jim would call a play at the line, and Kent would turn his head around and give Jim this ‘you can’t run this play, you idiot’ look, and Jim would change the call. (Steve Tasker and Scott Pitoniak, “Steve Tasker’s Tales From the Buffalo Bills”, Sports Publishing, 2006)
Hull was part of a core group of leaders on the Bills that included Kelly, Darryl Talley, Cornelius Bennett and Bruce Smith. He was well liked and highly respected by his teammates and coaches. He was also a frequent go-to guy for the news media.
After turning down an opportunity to make more money on the open market as a free agent in 1994, Hull returned to the Bills for his final two seasons. In late December, 1996, he retired to the family farm in Greenwood, Miss.
Few players seemed to appreciate the opportunity to play pro football more than Kent Hull, and he never lost that sense of gratitude. He understood, almost immediately, how much an N.F.L. franchise can mean to its community:
I can remember the very first game, we played the Jets, in 1986, the home opener, and people had been talking about getting twenty thousand, thirty thousand people in the stands, and shoot, we had eighty thousand… That city had just gone through a terrible ordeal where Bethlehem Steel had laid off thirty thousand people in one year… The best way to rally everybody is to find some simple thing everyone enjoys, and they all come together. And that happened to be Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills. (Adam Lazarus, “Super Bowl Monday: The New York Giants, the Buffalo Bills, and Super Bowl XXV”, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2011)
In the locker room in Tampa Stadium after losing to the Giants in Super Bowl 25, Hull watched as Scott Norwood, still in his uniform, patiently answered every question and blamed no one but himself. As he was about to leave, Hull went over to Norwood and told him that if everyone, including himself, had done their jobs just a little better, that field-goal attempt would’ve been from a lot closer than 47 yards. Hull then waited for Norwood to shower and dress and, finally, the two teammates walked out together, into the night.
Andy Barall writes about pro football history for The Fifth Down.
No comments:
Post a Comment