ST. LOUIS — St. Louisans sure do love a champion. Especially one who’s brave enough to take the mic and sing “Gloria” in front of hundreds of thousands of people and on live TV.
Brett Hull was named the No. 1 sports personality in St. Louis from the last 50 years as part of the Jack Buck Awards this week. The St. Louis Blues player topped out local sports legends Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, Albert Pujols, Kurt Warner and even Jack Buck himself.
Members of the Missouri Athletic Club are usually the only ones who get to vote for the Sports Personality of the Year award, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the club opened up voting to everyone. The top 10 was decided using only write-in votes.
There’s no doubt Hull brings a lot of personality to the list. The Missouri Athletic Club said he’s “arguably one of the most colorful personalities in professional sports.” But he’s also an accomplished Blues alumni.
Over 11 years and 744 regular-season games, Hull scored 527 goals, which is 175 more than Hall of Famer Bernie Federko, who ranks second. Hull also ranks first in the franchise in hat tricks (27), power-play goals (195), game-winning goals (70), shots (3,367) and second in points (936), assists (409) and shorthanded goals (18).
Recently though – and maybe what landed him at the top of this list – many St. Louisans remember Hull and his legendary celebratory moments following the Blues’ first Stanley Cup championship.
Most notable, there was this moment from the Blues post-parade rally, when Hull got the microphone and did his… special… rendition of the song “Gloria”.
One member of that Blues’ championship team also made the top 10: Ryan O’Reilly. You can see the full list below.
Top 50 St. Louis Sports Personalities of the Last 50 Years
- Brett Hull
- Ozzie Smith
- Lou Brock
- Albert Pujols
- Kurt Warner
- Yadier Molina
- Bob Gibson
- Ryan O'Reilly
- Jack Buck
- Tony La Russa
View the full list of Top 50 St. Louis Sports Personalities of the Last 50 Years on the Missouri Athletic Club’s website.
Blues head coach Craig Berube won in 2019.