Keith Gave is an author and

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

. In 1989, while working as a sports reporter for the

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

, 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 Sergei Viktorovich Fyodorov (; born December 13, 1969) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the former head coach of HC CSKA Moscow, CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) from 2021 to 2024. During his playing care ...

and

Vladimir Konstantinov Vladimir Nikolaevich Konstantinov (; born March 19, 1967) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played his entire National Hockey League (NHL) career, from 1991 to 1997 with the Detroit Red Wings. Previously, he had played for So ...

, 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 () 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, and the International Ic ...

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 The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

for six years. He then spent 15 years covering hockey for the

. His two careers put him in a unique position when

executive vice-president

Jim Lites James R. Lites (born 1953) is an American sports executive who is CEO and alternate governor of the Dallas Stars of the NHL. He was formerly the president of Hicks Sports Marketing Group, and as such was president of the Stars and Texas Ranger ...

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

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 Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, 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 WDFN (1130 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM Radio broadcasting, radio station in Detroit, Michigan. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an all-news radio radio format, format under iHeartRadio's Black Informatio ...

-AM in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

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), Chicago ...

, 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 The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

and then in Dallas for ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

''. He also covered ice hockey at the

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

in Nagano, Japan.

Return to Michigan

In 2001, Gave left sports writing to teach journalism and English at

Kirtland Community College Kirtland Community College is a Public college, public community college in Grayling, Michigan. History Kirtland was founded in 1966 when six local school districts, Crawford-AuSable, Fairview Area, Gerrish-Higgins, Houghton Lake Mio-AuSable, ...

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) Washtenaw Community College faculty