Thursday, April 09, 2015
Bob Probert's Tragic Story
On the cover of the book, there is a
quote from the Ottawa Citizen: “Funny
as hell”. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a book about a very
tragic figure who made globs of money playing the game that most young Canadians
would love to play. Probert began to spin out of control almost as soon as he
strapped on his blades professionally. He was born June 5, 1965, and died,
tragically, when he was forty years old in 2005.
We remember “Probie” as a fighter,
and justifiably so. There are eleven pages at the back of the book, listing all
of his NHL fights. They begin with a scrap against Craig Coxe, once a
Belleville Bull. A fan favourite, I might add. Coxe stood six inches over six
feet tall, and was a lanky lad when he first stepped onto the ice at the
Yardmen.
He feared no one, and did not back
away from any scrap. I distinctly remember a game when he strolled around the
ice, looking for a potential customer after wrestling with a couple of guys.
The Kitchener bench was furious with him. They taunted him, cursed at him. He
took three strides from centre ice and dove, spread-eagled into the crowd at the bench. A
heap of fur flew before they could untangle Mr. Coxe from the mess.
The list of Probert’s combatants is
long and distinguished, and includes all of the tough guys from his era: Tony
Twist, Donald Brashear, Georges Laraque, Tie Domi, Sandy McCarthy, Bryan
Marchment, Stu Grimson, Al Secord, Troy Crowder, Marty McSorley, Chris Nilan...
A Windsor kid, many of his legal
difficulties stemmed from his border crossings. He played much of his career in
Detroit, but also spent seven seasons with the Black Hawks. His days with the
Red Wings were his most memorable, and his most successful. On two occasions,
he scored 20 goals. He racked up 62 points in 1987-1988, and also had 398
minutes in the penalty box that same year, the most he ever spent in the sin
bin.
During his stint in Detroit, he
played with Joey Kocur and Darren McCarty. They were certainly well respected
on the ice, feared, in fact, by many. Probert and McCarty both went down many
wrong paths as the years progressed. Probert was suspended for a year 1n 1994,
and had worn out his welcome in Detroit. He latched on with the Hawks, had one
good season. He did not score in double figures in his last six seasons with
the Hawks.
I am certain that most of his life he
considered himself almost indestructible. On many occasions, he believed he was
above the law. He rewarded police officials with great tickets on the many
occasions when they arrested him. He was simply out of control most of the
time, and frustrated many of the team officials who knew he had the talent, but
knew that he could not live within the constraints of an NHL contract.
There will be other athletes that
will follow his path in the future. Hopefully, someone will be able to slip
them a copy of this book before they go completely off the rails.
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
# posted by James Hurst @ 7:32 AM 
