Keith Gave is an author and sportswriter. In 1989, while working as a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press, Gave secretly passed a message from the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

to two Russian players, Sergei Fedorov and

Vladimir Konstantinov Vladimir Nikolaevich Konstantinov (russian: Владимир Николаевич Константинов; born March 19, 1967) is a Russians, Russian-Americans, American former professional ice hockey player who played his entire National Hocke ...

, that the Wings had recently drafted. The two would eventually defect in order to play for the Wings, and were part of the

Russian Five The Russian Five was the nickname given to the unit of five Russian ice hockey players from the Soviet Union that played for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League in the 1990s. The five players were Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstan ...

that led the Red Wings to two consecutive

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

wins in the 1990s. Gave later wrote a book about the Russian Five, and the book was also made into a documentary film in 2019.

Early career

Before his sports journalism career, Gave worked as a Russian linguist for the National Security Agency for six years. He then spent 15 years covering hockey for the Detroit Free Press. His two careers put him in a unique position when

executive vice-president

Jim Lites James R. Lites (born 1953 in Pentwater, Michigan) is an American sports executive who currently serves as CEO and alternate governor of the Dallas Stars of the NHL. He was formerly the president of Tom Hicks, Hicks Sports Marketing Group, and as su ...

contacted him in July 1989, asking for his help in passing a secret message to two Soviet hockey players recently drafted by the Wings: Sergei Fedorov and

. Soviet players at the time were not allowed to leave their country to play in the NHL, and Gave was to be a go-between for the Wings at an exhibition game in Helsinki, letting the players know that the Wings wanted them to defect. This began a process that would eventually culminate in the Red Wings forming the

line. While in Detroit, Gave also co-hosted a morning show called ''The Morning Battery'' with

Butch Stearns Butch Stearns is an American television and radio personality. He is a former sports anchor for WFXT and radio host for WEEI-FM, both located in Boston, Massachusetts. Television Stearns' first job in television was as a producer for Bob Gamere ...

on all-sports radio station WDFN-AM in Detroit from February 1995 until January 1996. Gave succeeded former Major League pitcher

Lary Sorensen Lary Alan Sorensen (born October 4, 1955) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1977–1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1981), Cleveland Indians (1982–1983), Oakland Athletics (1984), Chica ...

, who was the original co-host of the show which began in July 1994.

Post-Detroit

Gave left Detroit for a time, working in Chicago for the Associated Press and then in Dallas for '' The Dallas Morning News''. He also covered ice hockey at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

in Nagano, Japan.

Return to Michigan

In 2001, Gave left sports writing to teach journalism and English at Kirtland Community College in Michigan. In 2008, he took a job at

Washtenaw Community College Washtenaw Community College (WCC) is a public community college in Ann Arbor Charter Township, Michigan.

''The Russian Five'' book and film

In 2018, Gave's first book, ''The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery and Courage'', was published. The book included an account of his role in first contacting Fedorov and Konstantinov in 1989, and described in detail the overall story of how the Red Wings eventually brought the five Russians together, culminating in Detroit's first Stanley Cup since 1955. A documentary film based on the book, also called ''The Russian Five'', was released in 2019. Gave served as a producer and writer on the film.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gave, Keith The Dallas Morning News people Detroit Free Press people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)