Probert Book Coming

From CP:

The family of Bob Probert has decided to go ahead with a memoir the longtime NHL enforcer was working prior to his death.

“Tough Guy,” due to be published Oct. 26, will recount his career with the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks when he was one of the most feared players in the game, and also delve into his off-ice troubles.

Probert was co-writing the book with Kirstie McLellan Day before he suffered a heart attack and died last month.

“He was really excited and happy about the opportunity to tell it like it really was — behind the headlines,” Dani Probert, his widow, said in a statement released by publisher HarperCollinsCanada. “After much deliberation, my family and I have decided to fulfil Bob's dream and publish the book.”

Here's more from the publisher, HarperCollins:

TORONTO (August 13, 2010)—Hockey enforcer legend Bob Probert was hard at work on a raw and candid memoir with acclaimed writer Kirstie McLellan Day when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in July.

“Bob was working on his own book with Kirstie when he passed,” said his widow, Dani Probert. “He was really excited and happy about the opportunity to tell it like it really was — behind the headlines. After much deliberation, my family and I have decided to fulfill Bob’s dream and publish the book.”

“HarperCollins has made it its mandate to publish the stories of Canada’s most interesting personalities and most important contributors,” said Iris Tupholme, Vice President, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at HarperCollinsCanada. “Bob Probert’s memoir represents a rare opportunity for Canadians to take a hard look at the game we all love. We are proud to have him on our list.”

In the book, to be titled Tough Guy, Probert recounts in his own words his notorious career as one of the most feared men on the ice during his time with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. The book also chronicles a hard life off the ice; Probert was suspended from play, he submitted to rehab programs ten times, he was jailed for carrying cocaine across the US border and he survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash.

“There is no question that Bob Probert was one of the most dynamic and controversial players in hockey,” said Jim Gifford, executive editor at HarperCollinsCanada. “I’m grateful that he and Kirstie were able to get so much accomplished on the book before he passed away. I know he wanted to tell his
story in his own way.”

Through his turbulent career and struggles with drugs, booze and the law, Bob Probert was also a devoted family man who was involved in his community, loyal to his friends, and a committed supporter of Canadian soldiers serving abroad.

At times stark, at times funny, and always remarkably honest, Tough Guy will cover Bob Probert’s life as a boy growing up in Windsor, chronicling his junior hockey years in Brantford, Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie, through his professional career with the NHL. The book will feature over 50 photographs, many of them never before seen. Tough Guy will publish October 26, 2010.

Kirstie McLellan Day, who co-wrote this memoir with Bob Probert, also co-wrote Playing with Fire, the bestselling memoir by Theoren Fleury, and is currently working with Hockey Night in Canada’s Ron MacLean on his upcoming book.

Tough Guys by Eric Zweig

Last week I looked at Eric Zweig's new book Fever Season. In a very timely release, Zweig offered a novel based loosely upon actual events of 1919, specifically a deadly flu epidemic that cancelled the Stanley Cup finals and claimed the life of Bad Joe Hall.

Well it turns out Zweig has a second young adult release based upon that flu season. Through Lorimer Publishers Zweig has also released Tough Guys: Hockey Rivals in Times of War and Disaster.

Buy The Book - Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

Unlike Fever Season, Tough Guys is not a fictional piece. It is the actual story of Bad Joe Hall and Newsy Lalonde, two of the game's earliest superstars. The two had a fierce rivalry, drawing fans to their epic matches. World War I would force the bitter enemies to become teammates. Yet just when the fighting overseas comes to an end, the world is devastated by the Spanish Flu. The virus even effects the Stanley Cup and ultimately claims Hall's life.

It is a compelling story, but told with a young audience in mind.

"I can barely remember a time when I wasn't intrigued by this hardly known fact," says the author. "It was about 1973 when I first learned that the 1919 Stanley Cup final had been cancelled. I decided to write about the story behind the cancellation because I know my ten-year-old self would have loved this book."

Zweig adds "We like to think of our sports heroes as invincible, but Lalonde and Hall could not escape the suffering caused by Spanish Influenza which actually killed more people than the war. The book shows how strong the human spirit is and how rivalries, and even the cancellation of the Stanley Cup playoffs, become trivial in the face of human suffering.

Zweig is an experienced youth writer. He now has 10 kids or young adult titles published.

Tough Guys by Jim Kyte Postponed

First it was Lions In Winter. Now it's Tough Guys. The book by former NHL defenseman Jim Kyte has been indefinitely postponed.

Not surprisingly Red Deer Press offered no real reason for the delay, only reassuring me that the project is still very much in their plans.

Releasing a hockey book in January is an odd decision. After all you miss out on the NHL season opening and the all important Christmas sales season.

My guess is this book will still hit bookstore shelves in 2009, but in the much more traditional autumn months of October and November.