Tough Guy by Bob Probert

Author:Bob Probert [Probert, Bob; Mclellan Day, Kirstie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4434-0463-1
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2010-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

15

REHABILITATED

The end of my immigration case was getting closer. In January 1992, we applied for permission to cross the border and return. The courts ruled that month that I’d paid for my crimes and the INS could not consider the bust at the border in deportation hearings. They also said that you couldn’t stop someone from immigrating just because they were an alcoholic.

Harold said he put in more time on my case outside the courtroom than in. He started negotiating with the government the month I was arrested at the border. Harold dealt with a lot of people on the case. Some of the negotiations were done in Washington, some in Detroit. He was sure he could win in court. He always told me he believed he could get me reclassified, and that the main thing was that I had to get my act together to show I deserved to work in the States.

The case cost the taxpayers and me, and would have cost more. At one point, Harold said he was ready to litigate it for the rest of his legal career if he had to. When you fightthe United States government, it’s not like fighting another law firm that has fifty or a hundred lawyers on staff. You’re fighting a multi-billion-dollar organization that has unlimited manpower, unlimited resources and unlimited time.

I think everybody finally realized that enough was enough. Immigration was ready to say, “This guy has been clean for a long time. We believe it’s time to move on.”

On Monday, December 7, James Montgomery, the director of the INS’s Detroit district office, cleared me to travel back and forth across the border, which meant I would be able to play in Toronto two nights later. He said, “Sufficient time has passed and that [I] had demonstrated that [I had] been rehabilitated.” I hadn’t played in Canada in three and a half years—since the day I was busted. And I liked playing the Leafs. Actually, I liked playing everyone in the Norris Division—St. Louis, Minnesota and Chicago all seemed to tolerate hitters better, and we had a lot of goal scorers, so I could play my game and help the team. The ruling also meant I could see my family and friends a lot more easily. And then there was Tunnel Bar-B-Q in Windsor. Best ribs ever.

The first thing the morning after the decision, Harold Fried picked me up in his black Jaguar and drove me across the border and back. We were kind of quiet on that ride. I was thinking about my family and my career and how Mr. Ilitch believed in me. He was a great guy to work for, whether it was as a Little Caesar’s pizza maker or a player. If a guy wanted to help himself and needed his support and guidance, Mr. I would show up.

I think Harold was thinking about the years he’d spent trying to make it happen for me. We were really mellow. On our way back into the States, I was feeling kind of nervous.

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